Humans Forget, Machines Remember: Artificial Intelligence and the Right to Be Forgotten

Computer Security & Law Review (Forthcoming)

19 Pages Posted: 15 Aug 2017

See all articles by Eduard Fosch-Villaronga

Eduard Fosch-Villaronga

Leiden University

Peter Kieseberg

SBA Research

Tiffany C. Li

University of San Francisco - School of Law; Yale Law School - Information Society Project; Yale Law School - Information Society Project

Date Written: August 13, 2017

Abstract

To understand the Right to be Forgotten in context of artificial intelligence, it is necessary to first delve into an overview of the concepts of human and AI memory and forgetting. Our current law appears to treat human and machine memory alike – supporting a fictitious understanding of memory and forgetting that does not comport with reality. (Some authors have already highlighted the concerns on the perfect remembering.) This Article will examine the problem of AI memory and the Right to be Forgotten, using this example as a model for understanding the failures of current privacy law to reflect the realities of AI technology.

First, this Article analyzes the legal background behind the Right to be Forgotten, in order to understand its potential applicability to AI, including a discussion on the antagonism between the values of privacy and transparency under current E.U. privacy law. Next, the Authors explore whether the Right to be Forgotten is practicable or beneficial in an AI/machine learning context, in order to understand whether and how the law should address the Right to Be Forgotten in a post-AI world. The Authors discuss the technical problems faced when adhering to strict interpretation of data deletion requirements under the Right to be Forgotten, ultimately concluding that it may be impossible to fulfill the legal aims of the Right to be Forgotten in artificial intelligence environments. Finally, this Article addresses the core issue at the heart of the AI and Right to be Forgotten problem: the unfortunate dearth of interdisciplinary scholarship supporting privacy law and regulation.

Keywords: technology, law, cyberlaw, cyberspace, internet, artificial intelligence, computers, computer law, privacy, privacy law, EU law, GDPR, data protection, technology law, right to be forgotten

Suggested Citation

Fosch-Villaronga, Eduard and Kieseberg, Peter and Li, Tiffany, Humans Forget, Machines Remember: Artificial Intelligence and the Right to Be Forgotten (August 13, 2017). Computer Security & Law Review (Forthcoming), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3018186

Eduard Fosch-Villaronga

Leiden University ( email )

Steenschuur 25
Leiden, 2311 ES
Netherlands

Peter Kieseberg

SBA Research ( email )

Favoritenstraße 16
Wien, 1040
Austria

Tiffany Li (Contact Author)

University of San Francisco - School of Law ( email )

2130 Fulton Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
United States

Yale Law School - Information Society Project ( email )

127 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
United States

Yale Law School - Information Society Project ( email )

New Haven, CT

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