Professor Jan Rotmans, 65, who has incurable prostate cancer that has spread, is having digital versions of himself developed by the studio The Synths. He says the avatars will be trained on his books, scientific publications, lectures, recordings and other material, with an initial online version planned by the end of 2026. A later version could appear as a stage hologram and give lectures or answer questions after his death. Rotmans says he hopes the system may also produce insights that surprise him, while acknowledging that it could give nonsensical or misleading answers. He says the avatars are not intended to replace him and that they will be tested and monitored for errors and misuse.

AI professor Iris van Rooij of Radboud University called the project undesirable and described digital replicas as dehumanizing, arguing that books, articles and videos already preserve a person's ideas without creating the impression of a human interlocutor. Rotmans says he accepts the risks and expects other scientists to adopt similar digital twins in the future.