In 2020, Mr. Tomoyuki Sugiyama, President of Digital Hollywood, was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). He has been a pioneer in Japan's digital domain since 1994, leading the way as a creator and educator. As his daily life became increasingly challenging, he questioned whether he could continue his social activities unchanged. To answer this, he conducted an experimental demonstration in April 2023 using his own digital twin, exploring the potential of continuing his societal contributions despite his condition.

This experiment challenged the proposition of how far a digital twin could replicate the influence built up over a lifetime by a living person. It explored to what extent the exceptional charm and charisma of President Sugiyama could be faithfully conveyed through a digital twin using expressions and language.

Despite losing the freedom of his body and voice, Mr. Sugiyama embarked on an experimental demonstration to explore the potential of social activities using a digital twin. As an initial attempt, he challenged himself to deliver a congratulatory speech using his digital twin at the entrance ceremony of the school he presides over. Subsequently, he aimed to expand the scope of activities to include school management, teaching, and lectures, striving to realize social participation through the digital twin. Facing ALS, he continues to convey the new possibilities of merging human and digital realms to the next generation, including his students.

Despite losing the freedom of my body and voice, I embarked on a demonstration experiment to explore the possibilities of social activities using the digital twin.

First, as a first attempt, we considered the stage for the entrance ceremony of the school where he himself serves as the president.

We collected "voice data" and "physical images and 3D data" extracted from video footage of Sugiyama when he was still able to speak, and created a digital avatar "Digital Twin" to serve as his alter ego. We decided to perform a congratulatory speech by his other self.

Current speech generation technology has limitations in expressing human emotions, but tuning tools have improved the quality of the final speech expression.

This effort is not limited to this speech. We expect that the digital twin solution will expand Sugiyama's opportunities to participate in meetings and classes, and to face students as a mentor.

Sugiyama's digital twin was live-streamed to more than 800 students, parents, and stakeholders at the entrance ceremony, where he delivered his congratulatory address, which was simultaneously viewed by an additional 1,000 people. This massive response proved that a digital twin can be as influential as Sugiyama himself. This fact revealed the power of the digital twin to actually move and inspire people's hearts, and demonstrated the potential of new forms of communication that transcend the boundaries between the digital and real worlds.

At the entrance ceremony, Mr. Sugiyama's digital twin delivered a speech to over 800 students, parents, and stakeholders, while more than 1,000 additional people simultaneously watched via live streaming. This extensive response proved that his digital twin could wield influence comparable to Mr. Sugiyama himself. This fact clearly demonstrates that digital twins have the power to genuinely move people and evoke emotions, revealing the potential for a new form of communication that transcends the boundaries between digital and real.