Life-Model Decoy

"So much could go wrong." "Ultron, yes, I know. But this is not AI, AI is banned and that's good, this is mimicry of human behavior." "But still, this can be used as a weapon, is that the idea?" "No, absolutely not!"

- Leo Fitz and Holden Radcliffe

The Life-Model Decoy, or L.M.D., was a dismissed S.H.I.E.L.D. project that was retrieved by Doctor Holden Radcliffe.

History
Tony Stark was evidently aware of the project as he jokingly purported himself to be his own Life-Model Decoy, analogous to an answering machine, to Phil Coulson when he arrived at Stark Tower to collect Stark for the Avengers Initiative in light of the destruction of Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.

Holden Radcliffe created a body for the artificial intelligence that served as his assistant, Aida, based on an old S.H.I.E.L.D. program, believing that it would prevent the deaths that Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons, of whom he had grown fond, had to witness. Aida was programmed as a decoy target for S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

Aida also created an L.M.D. of Agent Melinda May, which took the place of the real one.

Trivia

 * In the comics, Life-Model Decoys are androids used by S.H.I.E.L.D. that duplicates all outward aspects of a living person. They were often used by Nick Fury and other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as distractions or life-saving substitutes.