IDENTITY CRISIS IN THE DIGITAL AGE: BETWEEN AUTHENTICITY AND AI ALGORYTHMS

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyse the impact of the virtual environment of the digital age on identity transformation and to conceptualise the role of artificial intelligence in shaping new representations of both authentic and algorithmically constructed selfhood within digital culture. Achieving this goal involves solving the following tasks: highlighting the importance of artificial intelligence algorithms employed in AI applications; examining the peculiarities of constructing digital identity as an example of a communicative simulacrum in the virtual space of culture; understanding the risks of losing personal identity in the context of algorithmisation of social and communicative practices, considered as a key issue in the of formation of identity in the virtual environment of digital culture.The research methodology is based on the principles of cross-culturalism and combines cultural, psychological, and philosophical analysis, empirical (experimental) and content analysis of the latest AI applications as examples of a communication simulacrum. The scientific novelty. For the first time, the specifics of the impact of digital identities and the transformation of communication in artificial social AI networks are analysed, and for the first time, an experiment with the abandonment of digital presence as a tool for studying anthropological invisibility in virtual space is conducted.The conclusions state that, based on the results of a cultural study of the peculiarities of the formation and spread of the trend towards digital identities and the creation of artificial media, as well as from the standpoint of the theory of the dead Internet, humanity is moving towards an era of identity crisis. AI social networks-simulacra are replacing live communication, creating the illusion of sociality, often based on fictitious or manipulative algorithms. An experimental study has shown that the loss of digital representation leads to social exclusion in digital networks. New AI applications, such as SocialAI or Butterflies, are transforming the idea of subjectivity: personality is no longer stable, but is constructed according to audience expectations and trends.