You remember Lens AI, the app that was all the rage at the end of 2022, transforming our selfies into splendid fantasy or anime style avatars? Well, that harmless divertissement was just the tip of the iceberg of a much deeper and potentially disruptive technological revolution: that of "AI lookalikes", i.e. digital lookalikes created by artificial intelligence starting from our biometric data.
Lookalikes so realistic as to be almost indistinguishable from real people, but generated without our consent and outside of any regulation. A practice that raises enormous ethical and legal questions. There is an article by Express VPN analyzes the phenomenon in detail: from identity theft to loss of control over one's image, there are many unknowns.
But digital lookalikes are not the only modern risk of “losing” one's identity. Can I tell you more?
Deepfake, a borrowed face
Another striking example of danger to online identity and reputation is that of deepfake, ultra-realistic videos that show real people saying or doing things that never happened. Thanks to AI, anyone can “steal” a person's face and manipulate it at will, with potentially devastating consequences.
Imagine a deepfake showing you committing illegal or immoral acts, perhaps spread online to discredit you. A prospect that puts reputation, relationships, even personal freedom at risk. And with the "democratization" and progress of this technology it risks being even more frequent and difficult to distinguish.
No face, but everything else
The theft of biometric data, such as fingerprints or retinal scans, will be the next big elephant in the glassware. With the increasingly pervasive use of these authentication systems, the risk that hackers or bad actors will take possession of our biological "keys" to access bank accounts, devices and restricted areas will grow.
A potentially irreversible identity theft, because unlike a password we cannot change our fingerprints to exclude those who use them fraudulently.
They are lookalikes, but they look nothing like us
In summary, in the digital age, personal identity is an increasingly precious and fragile asset at the same time. An asset to be safeguarded with the utmost care and attention: losing it means losing a piece of ourselves.
Despite the right precautions to be taken, however, we need to remember that we must not give up the advantages of technology or close ourselves in a fortress of mistrust and fear. Identity thieves will always want to impersonate us, but they can never capture our authenticity. Because in the era of digital doubles, the real risk is not having a double, but losing our most authentic and unrepeatable self.
