Digital Identity & Data Ownership in the Age of AI & Web3

Digital identity has become a critical asset in the data economy, but its definition, control, and exploitation are in dispute. In a world where every online action generates traceability, every profile feeds AI models, and every identity can be falsified or replicated by generative algorithms, the notion of “who I am” in digital environments no longer depends on the individual, but on the technological infrastructures that represent them.
Simultaneously, proposals like decentralized identity (DID), wallets with verifiable credentials, cryptographic signatures, and Web3 architectures are introducing alternative models of authentication, data ownership, and self-managed privacy. But these systems coexist with centralized megaplatforms operating under extractive logic and with legislation that lags behind innovation.