Labour MP Dame Chi Onwurah has presented a new Bill aimed at stopping technology companies from creating algorithmic “digital twins” of people without their explicit consent, warning that advances in artificial intelligence are allowing companies to build increasingly sophisticated models of individuals’ behaviour, preferences and personalities.
The Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West MP, who chairs the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, introduced the Personal Data (Digital Twin) Bill in Parliament on Wednesday.
The Ten Minute Rule Bill would establish the principle that companies should not be able to create digital representations of individuals from their personal data without express permission.
Writing after presenting the Bill, Onwurah said:
“We know tech companies collect data on everything we do but now that data is being combined with AI to make algorithms which predict our behaviour.”
She added:
“Today I presented a bill to stop ‘digital twinning’ without express consent. There is only one you. Let’s keep it that way!”
What is ‘digital twinning’?
Onwurah argues that major technology platforms can combine huge quantities of data about users — including purchases, social media interactions, streaming habits and the content people engage with — to create increasingly detailed models capable of predicting their behaviour. The proposal has been reported by Computer Weekly and LBC.
These models can then be used to personalise advertising, determine what content people see and influence their online experience.
Onwurah has described the practice as “stealth twinning”, warning that the rapid development of AI has increased the power and sophistication of these systems.
She has said:
“No one has the right to impersonate you for gain.”
Her Bill would use a principles-based definition of a digital twin and seek to cover algorithms or models built from an individual’s preferences and behaviour.
Concerns over children and vulnerable users
A major focus of Onwurah’s argument is the potential impact on children and vulnerable people. Speaking locally, she has warned that a handful of tech giants could use such systems to target advertising and influence behaviour from a very young age.
Her committee’s previous work on social media, misinformation and harmful algorithms heard evidence about recommendation systems repeatedly feeding users content designed to maximise engagement.
Onwurah has highlighted examples where algorithms can progressively direct vulnerable users towards more extreme material, arguing that people should have greater control over how their personal information is turned into predictive models.
The Science, Innovation and Technology Committee previously called for users to have a right to reset the algorithms shaping their online experience. Onwurah’s new proposal would go further by requiring express permission before companies create a digital representation based on an individual’s data.
Parliament turns its attention to AI and personal identity
The intervention comes amid a much wider debate about whether existing privacy and data-protection rules are keeping pace with artificial intelligence.
While traditional data protection law focuses heavily on how information is collected, stored and processed, Onwurah argues that AI now raises a further question: whether a company should be entitled to assemble that information into a model designed to simulate or predict the person themselves.
The Bill could also have implications for emerging debates around deepfakes, digital likenesses and the use of AI-generated representations of individuals.
Cross-party interest
Although introduced by a Labour MP, the proposal has attracted interest across party lines.
Onwurah has said her approach has received support from Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs, including Culture, Media and Sport Committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage.
As a Ten Minute Rule Bill, the proposal faces a difficult path to becoming law without Government backing and sufficient parliamentary time. But such Bills can help establish new policy ideas and build pressure for ministers to act.
For Onwurah, the principle is straightforward: technological innovation should benefit people without stripping them of control over their own identity.
Her intervention puts a new question at the centre of Britain’s AI debate — not simply who owns our personal data, but whether technology companies should be allowed to use that data to create a digital version of us in the first place.
