Data reform: Unlocking AI to boost innovation across industry

Privacy Laws & Business UK Report, Issue 118, November 2021

The UK government is proposing data protection reforms aimed at paving the way for the UK to become a global AI superpower. The proposed reforms include expanding Article 22 of the UK GDPR to cover all automated decision-making (ADM), aiming to provide access to training data for AI systems while underpinned by new provisions for lawful basis, transparency, and anonymization. However, there are potential risks associated with AI, including a lack of human intervention in decision-making, and the challenges of ensuring compliance without substantive assessments. The government aims to strike a balance between high data protection standards and giving organizations more freedom to experiment with AI.