AI-mediated identity: conceptual, ethical and philosophical considerations

In 1993, a famous New Yorker cartoon “On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog" joked about online anonymity and disguised identity as emblem of early web culture. Several decades after, with the advancements of information technologies, anonymity is (almost entirely) vanished while identities multiplied along with benefits, risks and ethical issues. The multiplicity and fluidity of identity is profoundly rooted in human history long before the massification of the web, social media, virtual worlds and smart technologies. Across cultures, for instance, the masks have historically acted as “devices” allowing individuals to embody multiple and fluid personas across gender, age and social status. The online personas simply reinforced older cultural trends of a “decentralised” and multifaceted self (Turkle, 1995) to become informational nodes in a multiagent system shaping actual self and identity through feedback loops, algorithms and networks (Floridi, 2011; 2014). From the initial anonymity on the web to networked self through social media and avatar embodiment in virtual worlds, the digital identity conceptualisation underwent changes and adaptations at every meaningful social disruption by technology, over time. As first-order mediator, Artificial Intelligence is radically changing digital identity that, as second-order mediator, is undergoing a process of conceptual adaptation to the tech-induced and societal changes (Hopster & Löhr, 2023). With am to contribute to the current debate around digital identity as mediated, co-created and influenced by AI, at first, this paper will identify the conceptualisations commonalities, conflicts and adaptations. Then, the human-AI interactions will be mainly addressed in relation to the disruptions of cognitive systems and cognitive offloading (Chiriatti et al, 2024). Finally, a proactive discussion of ethical and philosophical considerations of AI-mediated identity will help in exploring the risks, vulnerabilities, resistance and concerns linked to the “flattening” effect and loss of autonomy.