The Council of Europe contributed to the 18th edition of the Computers, Privacy, and Data Protection (CPDP) Conference by participating in the “Privacy and New Technologies” and in the “Assessing Fundamental Rights Risks of AI: Opportunities and Challenges Ahead” panels .
The right to privacy
The first session discussed how the right to privacy can be effectively protected amidst unprecedented challenges posed by emerging technologies such as neurotechnology and large language models. The conversation acknowledged that personal data processing has grown in scale and complexity, increasing the risk of adverse impacts on individuals’ private lives. Key topics included
- how to bridge the gap between long-standing legal instruments and new digital tools,
- how to assess and mitigate growing privacy risks associated with complex data processing, and
- what responsibilities fall to international organisations in ensuring that human rights, the rule of law, and democratic values are upheld in this new context.
The exchange also examined how international data protection standards are developed, how they can remain useful, and for whom they serve.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
In the second panel Hanne Juncher, Director of Security, Integrity and Rule of Law, outlined what AI represents both in terms of opportunities and challenges to our societies, economies and to the international community. She informed that Council of Europe Framework Convention on AI – includes a variety of safeguards to address challenges ahead. Among other things, it foresees that providers and certain deployers have to identify, analyse and manage risks that high-risk AI systems pose to human rights through risk management obligations and a fundamental rights impact assessment, respectively. She also spoke about a methodology that is being developed to assess AI systems’ impact on human rights, democracy and the rule of law, so called HUDERIA and gave an overview on what are the most important aspects to consider when assessing the fundamental rights impact of AI systems.
