Journal Article: Regulating AI through Data Protection Laws
The first volume of the African Journal on Privacy and Data Protection includes an article by former Power & Associates attorney Tara Davis and ALT Advisory‘s Wendy Trott: ‘The regulation of artificial intelligence through data protection laws: Insights from South Africa’.
Overseen by the University of Lagos Faculty of Law and published by the Pretoria University Law Press, the journal aims to promote African expertise in the area of privacy and data protection. The article by Davis and Trott outlines the data protection implications of new forms of artificial intelligence, and uses South Africa as a case study to explore the effectiveness of data protection laws in mitigating these risks. This article builds on previous research undertaken with ALT on AI governance in data protection, available here.
Citation: T Davis & W Trott ‘The regulation of artificial intelligence through data protection laws: Insights from South Africa’ (2024) 1 African Journal on Privacy & Data Protection 207-219
Abstract
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) has amplified the privacy concerns of big data in the digital era. AI systems collect personal information through covert and complex ways that may undermine consent. Data used in these systems persists indefinitely and is constantly repurposed beyond the original purposes for which consent was obtained. The ability of AI to make inferences raises the prospect of processing information about data subjects that never consented in the first place, and AI’s reliance on big data incentivises behaviour that undermines the data minimisation principle common to most data protection frameworks. Despite these risks, the regulation of AI is woefully lacking in the African context. The only binding domestic legislation in most African states that addresses any form of automated decision making is data protection laws. This article explores the effectiveness of data protection laws in mitigating the risks posed by AI using the example of South Africa.
