In an article for The European Advocate, the journal of the Bar European Group, Professor Suzanne Rab writes, 'Artificial Intelligence and the intersection with Data Protection and Data Privacy – EU developments in an international context.'

In this piece, Suzanne examines how, over the past two decades, the field of artificial intelligence (AI) has been reshaping virtually every industry and human endeavor, founded on the idea that machines can simulate human intelligence. This shift presents challenges for regulation, as knowledge about the underlying phenomena is still emerging, raising questions about whether existing legal tools are adequate to address the risks of harmful outcomes without imposing undue constraints on the benefits AI can unlock. Since data is an input to AI models, the intersection with data protection and privacy warrants close examination.

A number of existing legal regimes operate at a horizontal level to address AI (for example, competition law, Intellectual Property and contract which are largely sector and technology neutral).  However, there has yet to emerge a comprehensive  legal regime that focuses squarely on AI and still less on the relationship between AI and data protection and data privacy.  This finding is unsurprising, not least because the development of AI is still in early stages, with a lot of potential yet to be realised. In this dynamic market and regulatory environment, this article is intended at a modest level to contribute to the existing and emerging global knowledge about the regulation of AI, here with a focus on the interaction with data protection and data privacy. The EU AI Act is a significant development in this area and which came into force on 1 August 2024.  However, my focus in this article is on the other pieces of legislation that deal with AI and data protection and privacy.

The focus reflects the professional interests of the writer, as a UK-based EU lawyer, professor of commercial law and policy adviser and is intended for those multiple audiences.  It does not purport to be comprehensive but instead to contribute a distinct viewpoint based on the writer’s real-world and interdisciplinary experience.

You can read the full article here.