Spotlight on Artificial Intelligence

It was noticeable at our planning meeting this month how many of the speaking proposals we had received for Who’s Watching Me?, our 36th International Conference 3-5 July, had aspects of AI in them. The technology certainly impacts our lives already in so many ways. The ICO is now saying that AI technology is no longer a new issue, and compliance with data protection law is required on all aspects.

One correspondent assesses the ICO’s guidance on using AI recruitment systems. Bias is one of the essential questions to consider. We await the government’s White Paper on AI - it will be interesting to see how it suggests tackling this issue. A recent paper from the Oxford Internet Institute comes to the conclusion that the current discrimination laws fail to protect people from AI-generated unfair outcomes. The author, Professor Sandra Wachter, highlights that AI is creating new digital groups in society – algorithmic groups – whose members are at risk of being discriminated against.(1)

How skillful is AI-based ChatGPT? The law firm Linklaters took a closer look to see whether the technology can also tackle legal questions(2). There was a broad range of results from the surprisingly good to the bad, they say. To the lawyers’ relief, it cannot, at least for now, advise their clients to the level of detail they need.

Also looking into the future is the article on the DPO role and function. Those in the role already know that DPOs are increasingly required to have not just legal knowledge but also expertise in other areas.

Privacy Laws & Business held a very successful Workshop in December together with law firm Hogan Lovells on Binding Corporate Rules. The Workshop identified differences between the UK and the EU regimes, and made recommendations for achieving the ideal of harmonisation or mutual recognition. We have now sent a memo to the European Data Protection Board, the ICO, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission and the UK government.

Laura Linkomies
Editor, Privacy Laws & Business

January 2023