The Risks of Generative AI: GDPR Breaches

Everybody is talking about Generative AI. Many are already using it - though they might not be aware of that! But what is it? Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that can be used to generate content like text, audio, images, video and more.

Generative AI tools have to trawl through huge amounts of data to be "trained." The product on everyone's lips is ChatGPT but there are many others. While Generative AI tools bring many exciting opportunities, their use is not without risk.

Training an AI tool is usually achieved by scraping the web and other sources for data. This can include personal data from social media accounts or elsewhere, taken without the data subjects' knowledge or consent. 

If a company is using an AI tool that has been trained on personal data gathered illegally, it could be in breach of GDPR and sued by an aggrieved data subject, or fall foul of the regulator.

For more information, contact Victor Timon or other members of our Technology Team.