Privacy Concerns in AI: Molly Reynolds Speaks with Law Times

Counsel Molly Reynolds has provided insight into concerns over the protection of individuals’ personal information in artificial intelligence (AI) with Law Times.

As AI continues to develop, more concerns regarding the protection of private information are emerging. The article addresses the legal concerns surrounding such issues and whether identifiable information can remain anonymous. 

Molly told Law Times “the question is whether that information can be kept anonymous so no one is identified or whether it produces analysis with clearly identifiable information.”

“There’s huge privacy considerations when you’re designing these models,” Molly said.

Molly continued, saying the key to protecting personal privacy is anonymity but said it "isn’t guaranteed simply by combining information from several sources together."

“I also think it’s going to be important for lawyers because we’re looking at contracts because we are representing an organization that wants to buy or license an AI tool,” she said. 

 “They need to know what the scope of their rights are and the contracts need to really specify whether personal information is going to be used, whether information is going to be anonymized, whether information is going to be aggregated, and all the parties really need to understand what that means in that particular implementation.”

In addition to privacy concerns, Molly said she also saw the need to be wary of potential human rights and ethical issues.

“I don’t think it’s an area where the federal or provincial government should be legislating on the technology because that will change so quickly it won’t be able to keep up. I think the focus should really be on making sure all the other guiding laws are technology neutral,” she said.

For more information regarding Torys' Privacy work, head to its practice page.