The UK Information Commissioner issues preliminary enforcement notice against Snap for failing to properly assess the privacy risk posed by its generative AI chatbot ‘My AI’
October 19, 2023 |
The privacy concerns regarding the use of AI have always been present. As usual, they have been pushed into the background as the potential and use of AI has dominated the debate. That does not mean that AI developers and users are exempt under the law. As Snap has discovered in the United Kingdom. The UK Information Commissioner has issued a preliminary enforcement notice against Snap regarding its failure to properly assess privacy risks when using its generative AI chatbot “My AI”. The UK Information Commissioner found that Snap’s risk assessment was defective, particularly as it related to children.
The media release provides:
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- Snap issued with preliminary enforcement notice over potential failure to properly assess the privacy risks posed by its generative AI chatbot ‘My AI’
- Investigation provisionally finds Snap failed to adequately identify and assess the risks to several million ‘My AI’ users in the UK including children aged 13 to 17.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued Snap, Inc and Snap Group Limited (Snap) with a preliminary enforcement notice over potential failure to properly assess the privacy risks posed by Snap’s generative AI chatbot ‘My AI’.
The preliminary notice sets out the steps which the Commissioner may require, subject to Snap’s representations on the preliminary notice. If a final enforcement notice were to be adopted, Snap may be required to stop processing data in connection with ‘My AI’. This means not offering the ‘My AI’ product to UK users pending Snap carrying out an adequate risk assessment.
Snap launched the ‘My AI’ feature for UK Snapchat+ subscribers in February 2023, with a roll out to its wider Snapchat user base in the UK in April 2023. The chatbot feature, powered by OpenAI’s GPT technology, marked the first example of generative AI embedded into a major messaging platform in the UK. As at May 2023 Snapchat had 21 million monthly active users in the UK.
The ICO’s investigation provisionally found the risk assessment Snap conducted before it launched ‘My AI’ did not adequately assess the data protection risks posed by the generative AI technology, particularly to children. The assessment of data protection risk is particularly important in this context which involves the use of innovative technology and the processing of personal data of 13 to 17 year old children.
