Artificial intelligence and privacy: the consumer perspective

Artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an increasingly important role in the lives of Canadian consumers. AI can help personalize the user experience, predict consumer behavior, provide access to information, interact with customers or make automated decisions about access to a service.

Online companies collect a phenomenal amount of consumer data, but provide only fragmented information on how this data is processed by their AI systems. A few companies claim to have adopted principles framing their use of AI, but this framework remains based on self-regulation. Moreover, the control they offer consumers over their personal information remains limited.

AI brings benefits for consumers, but it also poses risks of invasion of privacy, exclusion of vulnerable groups, economic exploitation of consumers or simply false positives. In addition, AI exacerbates the asymmetry of information between consumers and merchants, due to the opacity of the data processing it performs.

The use of AI in a commercial context exposes the obsolescence of Canadian privacy laws. Solutions proposed by Option consommateurs include enhancing individual consumer rights to obtain an explanation of the result of data processing and to request a review, expressly prohibiting uses of personal information that result in unlawful discrimination or economic exploitation of consumers, and strengthening the powers of law enforcement authorities.