Clones in the Machine: A Feminist Critique of Agency in Digital Cloning

TL;DR

This paper critiques digital cloning in academic research through a feminist lens, arguing that AI solutionism and agency simplification obscure consent, representation, and power dynamics. It analyzes researcher-driven cloning in simulation studies, showing how replicating digital histories can extend user agency in problematic ways and reproduce systemic biases. The proposed ethical framework—decentralized data donation repositories and dynamic consent dashboards—aims to restore context, consent, and sociomaterial accountability to AI research. By foregrounding participatory design and posthuman authorship, the work advocates context-aware practices that respect complex identities and resist reductionist AI narratives.

Abstract

This paper critiques digital cloning in academic research, highlighting how it exemplifies AI solutionism. Digital clones, which replicate user data to simulate behavior, are often seen as scalable tools for behavioral insights. However, this framing obscures ethical concerns around consent, agency, and representation. Drawing on feminist theories of agency, the paper argues that digital cloning oversimplifies human complexity and risks perpetuating systemic biases. To address these issues, it proposes decentralized data repositories and dynamic consent models, promoting ethical, context-aware AI practices that challenge the reductionist logic of AI solutionism