Data Protection Day

On the occasion of Data Protection Day on 28 January, the Committee of the Council of Europe's data protection treaty "Convention 108" has published Guidelines on Artificial Intelligence and Data Protection. The guidelines aim to assist policy makers, artificial intelligence (AI) developers, manufacturers and service providers in ensuring that AI applications do not undermine the right to data protection. The Convention's Committee underlines that the protection of human rights, including the right to protection of personal data, should be an essential pre-requisite when developing or adopting AI applications, in particular when they are used in decision-making processes, and be based on the principles of the updated data protection convention, "Convention 108, opened for signature in October 2018. In addition, any innovation in the field of AI should pay close attention to avoiding and mitigating the potential risks of processing of personal data, and allow meaningful control by data subjects over the data processing and its effects. Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland and Chair of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe Timo Soini welcomed the adoption of the guidelines and said: "Artificial intelligence brings benefits to our daily lives.