“How do we adapt our systems of rules to keep up with social and economic change?” Gillian K. Hadfield contributes to The Toronto Star’s Saturday Debate, exploring whether or not we should fear artificial intelligence and describing the regulatory technologies that are required to help us keep AI in check.

SRI privacy experts propose a shift to regulating “information about persons” provides better architecture to rethink contemporary privacy risks and develop a data governance framework suited to the 21st century. Part of an ongoing series of commentaries on the features, implications, and controversies surrounding privacy law reforms in an increasingly digital and data-rich context.

Canada’s Bill C-11 is a welcome update in protecting the privacy of Canadians. But privacy is not free. Privacy regulations are shown to inhibit innovation, increase inequality, and hurt competition. Will privacy law reforms further entrench the dominant market positions of big players like Google? Avi Goldfarb explores the implications on the Schwartz Reisman blog.

While Canada’s proposed Bill C-11 offers a definition of deidentified data, computer scientists Sasho Nikolov and Nicolas Papernot argue this is inadequate because it focuses on modifying personal information rather than method of analysis. They offer an accessible explanation of privacy protection frameworks centered around algorithms rather than the data themselves.

Canada’s proposed Bill C-11 requires “knowledge and consent” for the collection, use, or disclosure of personal information. However, Bill C-11 also creates some new exceptions to consent, including for personal information that has been “de-identified.” In this article, experts Lisa Austin and David Lie examine this new de-identification regime.

The Canadian government’s proposed new private sector privacy legislation (Bill C-11) introduces some notable changes to existing legislation (PIPEDA), including new exceptions to the “knowledge and consent” requirements. Schwartz Reisman Research Lead Lisa Austin, specialist in law and technology, comments on the “business activities” exception.

In a digital and increasingly data-rich world, legislation is struggling to keep up with the ways in which data is generated, circulated, and used. Recently, the Ontario government sought formal responses from organizations housing legal or technical experts on issues surrounding data and privacy. Read what the Schwartz Reisman Institute’s experts had to say.

SRI Director Gillian K. Hadfield will discuss her book Rules for a Flat World as part of Rotman’s Big Ideas series. The paperback edition includes a new prologue about artificial intelligence—its risks, benefits, evolution, and regulation. In this interview, Hadfield offers insights into how we might understand, govern, and build technology that is responsive to human values.

From broadening not only the scope of data used by researchers to expanding conceptions of what data is—and can be—Schwartz Reisman Faculty Affiliate Marlène Koffi makes three recommendations for social science researchers who want to leverage powerful new technologies like machine learning in their work.

SRI Engineering Lead Ron Bodkin says the European Commission’s recent white paper on AI falls short in assessing risk and proposing adequate regulation for the use of artificial intelligence across sectors and industries. Bodkin proposes some reflections and amendments that could address the breadth of potential risks and harms in a world rapidly implementing AI across all aspects of life.

What is the alignment problem and how can we encourage the development of human-aligned AI? What is normativity and how do humans channel appropriate behaviour? If normativity is central to human intelligence, how can it apply to artificial intelligence as well?

The COVID Alert app is a useful tool in the fight against the pandemic. But it’s also a concerning indicator of the increasingly decisive role “Big Tech” plays in policy choices. Lisa Austin, David Lie, and Wendy Wong co-wrote an opinion piece about the design and privacy implications of the new federally-approved exposure notification app.