Navigating AI and GDPR: A Guide for Incorporating Compliance - Episode 5: Implementing AI Technology
In the rapidly evolving world of Artificial Intelligence (AI), businesses using AI solutions must adhere to the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to protect individuals' data rights. Here are some key considerations for businesses integrating AI throughout development and operations.
Firstly, establishing a clear legal basis for processing personal data is crucial. This could be based on consent, contract necessity, legitimate interest, or legal obligation. Special categories of data, such as health data, require stricter safeguards.
Secondly, businesses must integrate appropriate technical and organizational measures from the earliest stages of AI development, in line with the GDPR's principle of Data Protection by Design and by Default. This includes implementing data minimization and pseudonymization to reduce risks to data subjects.
Thirdly, personal data used in AI must be collected and used only for specified and legitimate purposes. Only the minimum necessary personal data should be processed to train or operate AI systems, avoiding excessive data collection or retention.
Fourthly, transparency and explainability are essential. GDPR requires providing meaningful information to data subjects about how their data is processed by AI, including explanations of the logic behind automated decisions and their potential impacts.
Fifthly, if AI systems make decisions with legal or significant effects on individuals, GDPR Article 22 mandates safeguards such as the right to obtain human intervention, challenge decisions, and receive explanations.
Sixthly, businesses must enable GDPR rights like access, rectification, deletion, restriction, objection, and data portability, even where personal data is embedded in complex AI models or outputs.
Seventhly, as AI often involves processing personal data across jurisdictions, companies must adhere to GDPR rules on transferring data outside the EEA, ensuring appropriate safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses or adequacy decisions are in place.
Lastly, businesses should maintain robust governance frameworks throughout AI’s lifecycle, regularly reviewing AI systems for compliance risks and updating measures as needed to ensure ongoing GDPR adherence.
In a controller-processor arrangement, the AI developer processes personal data on behalf of the company using AI, while if the AI developer and the company jointly determine the purposes and methods of processing personal data, they are considered joint controllers. Companies must ensure that AI systems are safe before use and have a controller-processor agreement in place with the AI developer, verifying that the processor guarantees the implementation of appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure GDPR compliance, including measures for transfers of personal data outside the EU.
Companies must also prioritize internal awareness and provide comprehensive training to all relevant staff for GDPR compliance. They must be transparent about their use of AI and inform third parties, such as their customers, about how AI is used and the purposes for its application.
The European Union's Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are crucial for businesses using AI. Together, these considerations require integrating GDPR principles deeply into AI processes — from initial design, through development, deployment, and operation — to safeguard individuals' data protection rights and meet regulatory obligations.
- In the context of integrating AI solutions, businesses should be aware of the European Union's Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), including the need for adherence to a cybersecurity law when processing personal data, which can often involve technology.
- To safeguard individuals' data protection rights and meet regulatory obligations, businesses must ensure that AI systems are designed, developed, deployed, and operated in accordance with GDPR principles, such as transparency, explainability, and the implementation of appropriate technical and organizational measures.
