Key Aspects of the New OECD Report on Artificial Intelligence
The report "AI, data governance, and privacy: Synergies and areas of international co-operation” published by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) explores the intersection of AI and privacy and ways in which relevant policy communities can work together to address related risks, especially with the rise of generative AI.
It highlights key findings and recommendations to strengthen synergies and areas of international co-operation on AI, data governance and privacy, including:
- Transparency and explainability
Transparency is crucial for informing individuals about how their personal data is utilized in AI systems and is fundamental for obtaining informed consent for data processing. It fosters trust and empowers users to make informed decisions regarding their data. The report highlights practical initiatives such as model cards to improve AI interpretability, ensuring that the information disclosed is meaningful and that AI outcomes are comprehensible.
- Global synergies and cooperation
AI's global influence necessitates international regulatory cooperation to effectively address privacy challenges. The report emphasizes the importance of synchronized global efforts, clear guidance, and collaborative strategies to mitigate AI's impact on privacy. Cooperation is essential to prevent regulatory fragmentation and ensure consistent application of privacy principles across jurisdictions.
- Fairness
Ensuring that AI systems handle personal data fairly and produce equitable outcomes is crucial to both AI and privacy principles. The report underscores the significance of principles such as limiting data collection, specifying purposes clearly, restricting usage, promoting transparency, and maintaining data quality as essential for achieving fairness.
- Considerations
This report provides an overview of priority areas where the AI and privacy communities can collaborate and strengthen their synergies within the OECD and beyond, and help develop resources and tools for trustworthy AI systems that respect privacy. It captures policy opportunities and challenges of joint relevance to these communities, areas of complementarity and potential gaps.
Recently, the OECD has decided to play its part, leveraging its unique co-operation infrastructure and convening power across borders, sectors and areas of expertise to support and foster a positive and proactive message about AI and privacy. Established in early 2024, the OECD.AI Expert Group on AI, Data, and Privacy advances analysis into these areas to strengthen connections between the AI and privacy communities. This includes considering the creation of common guidance and recommendations to facilitate global interoperability across AI and privacy governance.
In collaboration with relevant experts at the OECD and beyond, the Expert Group could consider working on sector-specific issues at the intersection of AI and privacy, such as in health, employment, or finance. In the medium term, these co-operation efforts could help assess whether the AI and Privacy Recommendations need to be updated to reflect the synergies between the AI and privacy communities.
The work of the newly created expert group could also lead to the development of practical resources for AI actors and privacy and data protection regulators. International co-operation on AI and privacy should aim for the long-term interoperability of legal, technical, and operational frameworks applying to AI and privacy.
This will allow policy and decision-makers to leverage commonalities, complementarities, and elements of convergence in their respective policy frameworks, or, conversely, to identify the stumbling blocks that could hinder the development of common positions or co-operation.
Sources
- Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). ‘‘AI, data governance and privacy - Synergies and areas of international co-operation’’ (June 26, 2024)