Home Press Release GDPR Threatens EU’s Ambitions of Leading in AI; Reforms Are Critical to Support the Bloc’s Digital Economy

GDPR Threatens EU’s Ambitions of Leading in AI; Reforms Are Critical to Support the Bloc’s Digital Economy

by Benjamin Mueller
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BRUSSELS—In response to proposals for improving the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) published today by German MEP Axel Voss, the Center for Data Innovation released the following statement from Benjamin Mueller, Senior Policy Analyst for AI:

The GDPR threatens the EU’s ambitions of becoming a leader in AI technologies. The European Commission needs to promptly address the obstacles that this law poses for data innovation.

Protecting the privacy and personal information of European consumers is a worthy aim, but it need not and should not come at the expense of Europe’s digital progress. Although well-intentioned the GDPR unnecessarily limits digital innovation in the EU, and while eliminating this burden may not be feasible, policymakers can lighten the load. For example, the Commission should allow the use of pseudonymized data, relax certain requirements for human review of automated decisions, and allow consumers to grant broad consent to the reuse of their data. This would make it easier for European companies to develop and adopt AI capabilities in the future.

The EU needs to find the right balance between privacy and innovation. Today’s proposals by MEP Axel Voss are a welcome start to reforming those parts of the GDPR that harm Europe’s digital ecosystem.

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