Brussels / 3 & 4 February 2018

schedule

Artificial intelligence dealing with the right to be forgotten


The right to be forgotten subsequens the ruling of privacy law, encountering difficulties in terms of defining its applicability in the context of continuous tech evolution. Artificial intelligence development particularly raises problems due to the nature of machine learning and the obvious differences between the memory process of humans and AI systems. The law does not have an answer apart from the general ruling of the right to be forgotten, lacking a particular focus on the context of AI nature and applicability. How does an analysis of the current legislation look like and also what can one implement de lege ferenda in order to assure the required attention to the AI context?

Privacy law is on the spotlight of the modern rechtsstaat and determined in the doctrine different opinions in how the ruling of it is appropriate. Considering the amplitude of human interactions and the juridical nature of personality rights, it encounters an accelerated evolution. The right to be forgotten, one of the component of this area, reached its first peak due to the ruling of the European Court of Justice in the matter of Google's search engine, stating that as a data controller it has to conform to the 95/46/EC Directive, the states being held to implement those principles in the national legislation.

Considering the evolution of technology, a question that arises is how do the states and international entitites de lege lata apply the notion of the right to be forgotten in the context of artificial intelligence and also what could be done in order to have consistent juridical norms in this area. 

The right to be forgotten will be analysed as concept, juridical nature, doctrine debates regarding this notion and also how does it interfere with artificial intelligence. A description of the psychological memory and AI system of "remembering" will be done in comparison, emphasising the aspects that could be relevant in the compliance with the spirit of the right to be forgotten. Considering that the fundamental differences between how human and machine learning memory processes work, it will be determined a common ground of how can deletion be considered an act of forgetting. Also, the analysis will continue on the path of finding potential legal and policy adaptations to the current statutory law.

Speakers

Photo of Cristina Rosu Cristina Rosu

Links