Ensuring Iron-Clad Algorithmic Accountability in the GDPR Era

Artificial intelligence's "black boxes" are about to be blown wide open, whether or not the data science world is ready for it. That's because AI's algorithmic models are in the bullseye of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which takes effect on May 25. The EU designed GDPR to protect the privacy of European citizens, recognizing that the personally identifiable information (PII) that companies hold and process on customers' behalf belongs to the individuals themselves. More to the point, those individuals have the right to control how their personal data is processed, whether that handling be done through algorithmic automation, manual methods, or some combination thereof. With that deadline approaching, any enterprise that operates in the EU must fast-track their efforts to bring greater accountability to their machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), and other AI-based applications. Failure to comply with GDPR's strict requirements could result in companies that operate in the EU being subject to significant financial penalties, up to 4 percent of company revenues.