https://www.weforum.org/agenda..../2024/03/navigate-et
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
How to navigate the ethical dilemmas posed by the future of digital identity
When it comes to digital identity, new technologies are focusing on ethical dilemmas like consent, ownership, and post-mortem existence.
This emphasizes the need for legal and technical frameworks, respect for dignity and authenticity, and awareness of social implications, especially regarding virtual interactions.
Collaborative efforts among experts are needed to ensure responsible development and use of digital identities.
Everyone online today has a metaverse identity. We all contribute to this online image of ourselves through our online interactions – whether it be Facebook, Reddit, or a Digital Wallet address. This data, linked with our behaviours, representational preferences, and visual likeness, can become embodied to form an avatar or even a digital replica. Moreover, it can be augmented using generative artificial intelligence (AI) to take on a life of its own.

As new technologies like spatial computing and generative AI take hold, the fundamental nature of human identity – encompassing authenticity, dignity, and human presence – is being exposed in new ways. This poses serious ethical questions that must be answered by regulators, the creators of the technology, and the end users who are exploring this emerging tech. Is human identity, via authenticity, dignity, and human presence fundamentally at stake with the rise of AI?