Use of digital twins: Ethical and bioethical perspectives

The extension of human life constitutes one of the cornerstone challenges of civilization as a whole. History has recorded numerous projects aimed at achieving immortality, many of which have been utopian or overtly esoteric in nature. However, in the contemporary era, the development of Artificial Intelligencebased technologies has given rise to possibilities for the relational and functional extension of personal existence through the creation of digital twins via the fine-tuning and personalization of large language models. This technology departs from the concept of life extension as a biological phenomenon, instead focusing on replicating the idiosyncratic characteristics of an individual and their functional components.
This commentary article attempts to analyse the concept of digital twins as a tool for personal extension, problematises the classification of their types and functions, and identifies key ethical and social challenges (corporate control, the right to be forgotten, lifecycle management). Despite potential issues, the creation of digital twins also holds significant potential for bioethical research, as it could enhance the implementation of the principle of respect for autonomy (for example, by using them as supplements to advance directives) and allow for the modelling of interventions prior to their actual implementation, thereby helping to minimize harm.
The conclusion emphasizes the necessity of developing legal and ethical frameworks to regulate the creation, use and deletion of digital twins.

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