By Jaspreet Bindra
In the current age of AI, balancing the promising advantages with its potential risks is crucial. AI, much like nuclear technology, holds tremendous benefits but also presents significant challenges. Since the introduction of ChatGPT in 2022, its ethical implications have gained increasing attention, particularly regarding privacy concerns.
The ethical landscape of AI is broad, encompassing issues such as bias, copyright infringement, deepfakes, and environmental impact, with privacy emerging as the most pressing concern.
AI poses several privacy risks in businesses. The primary raw material for AI systems is data, and the more data they have, the better they can perform tasks such as recognising patterns, making predictions, and automating processes.
This data contains information on machines, but also on people, and that personal and sensitive information hidden in seemingly innocuous data can lead to unintended privacy breaches. A well-known example is how AI-driven facial recognition technologies can identify individuals in public spaces without their consent.
Similarly, AI algorithms can analyse online behaviour to predict personal attributes such as political affiliations, health conditions, or financial status, raising concerns about surveillance, discrimination, and loss of anonymity. Data hacks can expose personal data, which can then be used to blackmail companies or employees for ransom. There have been several such cases – Target and AT&T worldwide or the rumoured COVID and Aadhar data breaches in India.
Recent controversies highlight the dangers of deepfakes and the unauthorised use of creative content by AI. Elections worldwide have seen fears of manipulated deepfakes, while numerous creators have sued major AI firms for using their work without consent
To effectively safeguard privacy, organisations and countries should focus on three main strategies:
Regulatory Compliance
The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) sets a high standard for privacy, complemented by the EU AI Act, the world’s first AI-specific regulation. In India, the 2017 Supreme Court ruling recognised privacy as a fundamental right, and the 2023 Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act aims to protect privacy and ensure consent.
Businesses must adhere to these regulations to maintain customer trust and avoid severe penalties and reputational damage. Understanding and integrating these regulations into AI system design is essential.
Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs)
PETs help process data without compromising privacy. Notable technologies include:
Differential Privacy: Adds noise to data, making individual identification difficult while preserving overall analysis.
Federated Learning: Trains AI models on decentralised data sources, keeping personal data on the original device.
Homomorphic Encryption: Allows data to be processed while still encrypted, protecting sensitive information.
Data Anonymisation: Modifies data so it cannot be traced back to individuals.
Cultivating a Privacy-First Culture
Regulation and technology alone are not enough to ensure privacy. Building a privacy-first culture is crucial. This involves integrating privacy considerations from the outset in AI development, applying strict privacy settings by default, and conducting regular privacy impact assessments. Clear privacy notices, opt-in/opt-out options, and transparent AI decision-making processes are important, as is regular employee training on privacy practices.
Addressing privacy in the AI era requires a comprehensive approach involving regulatory compliance, advanced technology, and a strong privacy culture. While privacy concerns are significant, ongoing efforts by corporations and governments to regulate AI and implement protective measures are promising.
(The author is the Founder of Tech Whisperer)
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