Good morning.
2025 is likely to be the year when many of us will start using autonomous AI agents that act independently, consuming information and performing tasks on our behalf. What makes these agents effective is us: our unique data, prompts, and personalities that create a “digital self” that advises and acts on behalf of you, its human counterpart. AI agents’ power will come from what we allow them to know about us—from personal medical data to job training.
Don Tapscott calls this “identic AI.” Tapscott is an author who studies the impact of technology on business and society. He coined the term “digital copilot” and is working on a new book called The Digital Self. He joined our CEO Initiative roundtable earlier this week to talk about the implications for leaders.
“In companies, we view AI as a tool, a kind of a super capability that can enhance all operation applications,” said Tapscott. “Intelligent systems are no longer going to be just tools. They're going to be active participants in our world ... But where our digital identities become smart is [that] identic AI will know us and help us in every part of our life.”
But that creates legal issues for companies. If my AI agent is essentially a digital mini-me, who owns that information? Typically, a company will own all the content you produce during the course of your employment. But what if you leave and the “digital you” continues to generate ideas or content after you’re gone? You could become your own fiercest competitor.
And how do we manage a workforce in which people rely on personalized intelligent agents, much like the children in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy have daemons as an extension of themselves? To start, Tapscott argued, “we need to own them as individuals,” meaning they should be portable, much like a 401(k).
Employers—and their intellectual property lawyers—may well disagree.
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Diane Brady
diane.brady@fortune.com
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