Privacy commish launches AI consultation

OTTAWA — Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien is adding artificial intelligence (AI) to his legislative wish list as the new Parliament gets going. In an appearance before students at the University of Ottawa law school on Tuesday, Therrien announced that his office was launching a consultation document seeking input on possible AI regulations as part of his office’s policy review for the modernization of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). “The question is no longer whether privacy laws should be modernized, but how,” Therrien told the students in his remarks. “We make in our consultation paper several proposals for a new law, in-line with our rights-based approach and seek comments from experts in the field as to whether these proposals are practical, would they work, and would result in the responsible development and implementation of AI systems,” Therrien said. “We think it is time that the governance of AI move from ethical considerations to enforceable rules of law.” In the consultation, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner puts forward 11 proposals. Some of them -- such as the notion that privacy should be codified as a human right -- are reiterations of earlier OPC proposals. Others, however, are new, such as the suggestion that any update to PIPEDA include definitions of AI “that would serve to clarify which legal rules would apply only to it, while other rules would apply to all processing, including AI,” according to the document. “We note of course that AI systems present a significant challenge to all PIPEDA principles, notably data minimization, purpose specification, and openness, and that AI has been linked to discriminatory uses,” Therrien said in Tuesday’s remarks. The OPC also suggests that the updated privacy law include a right to object to automated decision-making and to not be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing, “subject to certain objections.” Referencing similar language in the European Union’s General Protection Regulation (GDPR), the OPC consultation document argues that such an objection is central to a rights-based approach. “If we are to meaningfully protect privacy as a human right in a digital context involving AI systems, one such right that needs to be considered is the ability to object to decisions made by computers and to request human intervention,” the document reads. The document also argues that the current PIPEDA is not clear enough on the issue of transparency, especially with regards to AI. PIPEDA, the proposals argue, “does not explicitly provide explanation rights for individuals when interacting with or being subjected to automated processing operations,” a right the OPC suggests be included in the new laws. NDP MP Charlie Angus said he was pleased by the announcement of the OPC’s consultation. “We really need to start focusing on AI, its power to mask decisions that affect the lives of citizens. What are the inputs that are creating that?” he said in a phone interview on Tuesday. “The privacy commissioner right now is the only one out there using his office to even lay down some of these terms. I’m hoping that our Ethics committee will take some of this up as well so we can draw witnesses in and start a conversation to push government to get serious about this,” he said. Angus has sat on the Ethics Committee since 2011. “We need to stop this bogus thing that ‘you’re consumers and you’re consuming online products and blah blah blah.’They’re affecting the rights of citizens, so how do we establish clear rules?” — With reporting by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca and editing by Adam Langenberg at alangenberg@thewirereport.ca

Privacy commish launches AI consultation

News | January 28, 2020

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Privacy commish launches AI consultation

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