AI Regulation and the Limits of Data Protection 

  • Panel
  • Grande Halle
  • Friday 23.05 — 08:45 - 10:00

Organising Institution

The Cordell Institute for Policy in Medicine & Law, Washington University in St. Louis, USA

United States

  • Academic 2
  • Business 1
  • Policy 3
For the past decade data protection and privacy regimes have increasingly been asked to deal with social problems that transcend informational self-determination and the preservation of the Athenian ideal of private lives and spaces. These problems have included political misinformation, deepfakes, algorithmic decision making, racial bias, attention theft, and the increasingly vast set of challenges presented by artificial intelligence technologies. This panel convened by the Cordell Institute at Washington University in St Louis will examine the extent to which data protection and privacy regimes can continue to address these problems while retaining their coherence, and what other frameworks might be necessary to bring them within the rule of law - including frameworks that might not yet exist. This all-star panel of academics and policy thought leaders will bravely ask the big existential questions facing our field as a whole.

Questions to be answered

  1. How might data protection and privacy rules be substantively or procedurally ill-equipped to respond to the challenges posed by artificial intelligence?
  2. What lessons can lawmakers take from the relative success and shortcomings of data protection frameworks to better craft new rules for artificial intelligence and other technologies?
  3. How do the goals of data protection rules differ from or overlap with proposed A.I. rules?
  4. How might data protection and privacy rules affect broader issues relating to democracy, equality, and exploitation?

Moderator

Neil Richards

Washington University in St. Louis - United Kingdom

Neil Richards is one of the world’s leading experts in privacy law, information law, and freedom of expression. He writes, teaches, and lectures about the regulation of the technologies powered by human information that are revolutionizing our society. Professor Richards holds the Koch Distinguished Professor in Law at Washington University School of Law, where he co-directs the Cordell Institute for Policy in Medicine & Law. He is also an affiliate scholar with the Stanford Center for Internet and Society and the Yale Information Society Project, a Fellow at the Center for Democracy and Technology, and a consultant and expert in privacy cases. Professor Richards serves on the board of the Future of Privacy Forum and is a member of the American Law Institute. Professor Richards graduated in 1997 with graduate degrees in law and history from the University of Virginia, and served as a law clerk to both William H. Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States and Paul V. Niemeyer, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Speaker

Woodrow Hartzog

Boston University - United States

Woodrow Hartzog is a Professor of Law and Class of 1960 Scholar at Boston University School of Law. He is also a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, a Non-resident Fellow at The Cordell Institute for Policy in Medicine & Law at Washington University, and an Affiliate Scholar at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School. He is the author of Privacy’s Blueprint: The Battle to Control the Design of New Technologies, published in 2018 by Harvard University Press, and the co-author of Breached! Why Data Security Law Fails and How to Improve It, published in 2022 by Oxford University Press.

Speaker

Claire Boine

The Cordell Institute for Policy in Medicine & Law, Washington University - United States

Claire is a postdoctoral fellow specialized in AI law at the Washington University Law School and an AI For Humanity Fellow at Mila Quebec. She holds a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School and her J.D. in EU law from Nantes University. Claire is an expert of General Purpose AI regulation and has consulted for several governments on the topic. Before the release of ChatGPT, Claire published the first law journal article arguing that GPT-3 and General Purpose AI systems were not regulated under the AI Act. She has also worked on diverse AI law topics such as AI and democracy, algorithmic bias, AI and gender, and AI-enabled manipulation.

Speaker

Carolina Foglia

European Data Protection Board Secretariat - Europe

Carolina is the Head of Sector, Legal Affairs – Cooperation and Enforcement at the European Data Protection Board Secretariat. She was admitted as a licensed attorney in both New York and Italy and she is a recognized expert in privacy law. She has gained extensive experience in data protection law through her work in the EU institutions and in law firms. Carolina has an LL.M. in IP & Technology Law from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (United States), and a Master's Degree in Law from the University of Trento, Italy.

Speaker

Orla Lynskey

University College London - United Kingdom

Orla is Chair of Law and Technology at UCL Laws and a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, Bruges. She was previously Associate Professor at LSE Law (2012-2024). Orla is joint Editor-in-Chief of International Data Privacy Law (OUP) and a section editor of the Modern Law Review. Her research examines the ways in which digital technology and regulation shape fundamental rights and public values and reconfigure public-private relations. She is currently investigating whether counter-majoritarian perspectives should inform State decision-making about personal data usage.