Digital Identities
Avatars, AI agents, digital selves, online presence and the changing meaning of personal identity in digital environments.
Digital identities describe how people are represented, recognised and able to act in digital environments. They include profiles, credentials and online identity, but increasingly extend to AI agents and digital twins. As these systems gain agency, identity becomes a question of trust, authority and responsibility as well as representation.
Where does the self end when digital systems begin to act for us?
Digital identity and AI are becoming closely connected. An avatar can represent us, while an AI agent can communicate, recommend or negotiate. A digital twin can also model aspects of our behaviour and preferences.
Therefore, identity is becoming less about representation alone and more about agency. The central question is no longer simply “Who is this?” It is also “What may this digital representation do?”
Born Digital looks at these developments through trust, autonomy and human presence. In particular, AI agents and identity create new questions about consent and responsibility.
What is digital identity?
Digital identity is the set of attributes, credentials, representations and forms of agency through which a person or organisation is recognised and acts online. It can include a login, a professional profile, an avatar, a digital signature or an AI agent acting under delegated authority.
Traditionally, online identity focused on proving who someone was. However, identity and authentication now cover only part of the problem. Digital systems increasingly perform actions as well as verify users.
As a result, digital identity and privacy are becoming harder to separate. Systems can build behavioural profiles, infer preferences and personalise decisions. Yet users may not always know how those representations are created or where organisations use them.
Digital identity and AI also change the meaning of delegation. For example, an agent may send a message, book a service or negotiate a transaction. In that case, the system must distinguish between identity, permission and action.
Consequently, AI agents and identity require clear boundaries. A service needs to know not only who authorised an agent, but also what the agent may do. It also needs a way to assign responsibility when an action exceeds that authority.
The technical foundation still matters. The NIST Digital Identity Guidelines provide a current framework for identity proofing, identity and authentication, and federation in digital systems.
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What Does It Mean to Be Born Digital Now?
From online identities to AI agents, the idea of being born digital has become more urgent, more complex and more political.
Read essay →Digital Identity After AI Agents
AI agents are turning digital identity from representation into a question of delegated agency, consent, responsibility and trust.
Read essay →Digital Twins and the Future of Personal Presence
Digital twins are changing how we think about presence, memory, identity and the boundary between representation and simulation.
Read essay →What this field includes
Digital selves
Profiles, avatars and digital personas, together with the multiple versions of ourselves that exist across platforms and environments.
Delegated agency
What changes when AI systems communicate, recommend, decide or transact on behalf of a person or institution.
Identity and privacy
How data, authentication, behavioural profiles and digital representations affect autonomy, control and exposure.
Trust and accountability
How consent, authorisation and responsibility should work when digital systems increasingly represent and act for people.