- Deutsche Telekom’s new initiative invites young people to create AI-powered digital twins
- – Project raises fresh questions on digital identity, ethics, and corporate responsibility
What happened: Gen Z’s digital double experiment
Deutsche Telekom has launched a new campaign aimed at helping Gen Z explore their digital identities by creating AI-generated “doppelgangers.” Through a platform co-developed with Berlin-based start-up Studio Graft, participants can build virtual personas—based on how others perceive them—that speak with their voice and reflect their personality.
Unveiled as part of Telekom’s ongoing “#WhatWeDoNext” initiative, the programme addresses a generation increasingly engaged in online self-exploration and identity expression. The interactive experience encourages users to reflect on how digital impressions shape personal identity, especially in the era of generative AI.
The campaign’s centrepiece is a film produced in collaboration with artists like Brittany Broski and Eyedress, demonstrating the concept of confronting your digital double. While the AI avatars are intended as self-exploratory tools, Deutsche Telekom has insisted that user data will not be used to train AI models and that participants retain full control over their digital creations.
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Why it’s important
This initiative comes at a time when generative AI is not just recreating human voices and faces but also questioning the very idea of authenticity. By encouraging users to confront AI versions of themselves, Telekom is tapping into a powerful cultural moment where questions about ownership, control, and self-perception are colliding with technological advancement.
For Gen Z, the “always online” generation, these issues are particularly relevant. Many already maintain curated digital selves across platforms like TikTok and Instagram, but an AI-powered version introduces a deeper layer of abstraction. While Telekom’s move could be seen as progressive, it also walks a fine ethical line. Will such tools empower or distort identity further?
The company’s promise to protect data privacy is important, but as AI tools grow more sophisticated, so does the risk of misuse. Whether this project will set a new ethical benchmark—or simply serve as clever marketing—remains to be seen. But the conversation it sparks is urgently needed.
