🦅 The AI Act and the rapid rise of AI governance
Luiza Jarovsky
Co-founder of the AI, Tech & Privacy Academy, LinkedIn Top Voice, Ph.D. Researcher, Polyglot, Latina, Mother of 3. 👉Join our AI governance training (1,100+ participants) & my weekly newsletter (50,000+ subscribers)
Plus: the AI Act has a problem (and it's not what most people think)
👋 Hi, Luiza Jarovsky here. Welcome to the 82nd edition of this newsletter! Thank you to 80,000+ followers on various platforms and to the paid subscribers who support my work. To read more about me, find me on social, or drop me a line: visit my personal page. For speaking engagements, fill out this form.
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🦅 The AI Act and the rapid rise of AI governance
Contrary to what most people say, AI might be one of the biggest drivers of new job opportunities in the months ahead. And not only for engineers and data scientists. Here's why:
As EU officials finalize the AI Act and virtually every country in the world is putting effort into AI governance and regulation, it becomes clear that the next few years will bring massive regulatory changes to the tech sector.
As we get ready to leave the "AI wild west" behind and start building the "AI regulatory infancy," a group of AI professionals becomes essential. Besides engineers and data scientists, the AI field will desperately need professionals focused on:
and more.
From my point of view, the professional revolution around AI will be similar to what happened in the field of privacy & data protection. In the last few years, the field has grown, matured, and specialized so much that there are constantly new job openings in a variety of different positions. I think this will happen in the AI field too.
When researchers say that AI involves a lot of human work, directly and indirectly, soon it will also mean the numerous professionals needed to make sure AI systems comply with existing laws (which will be many), respect privacy by design, follow industry practices in terms of consumer safety, are transparent, trustworthy, fair, and accountable.
In parallel to that, there will be a demand for professionals who help build, maintain, and grow this new ecosystem of professionals (similar to what happens in privacy & data protection today).
I've been constantly thinking about it, and when people say that AI will replace jobs, to some extent, it might be true, but there will be many AI-related jobs created. And for some people, this might be a great time for a career transition.
With that in mind, we've gathered this list of AI-related jobs, which if you take a closer look, go much beyond machine learning engineers and data scientists. Check it out.
Get ready for the rise of the AI governance career (and perhaps consider transitioning before everyone else does).
🔵 The AI Act is coming
After long hours discussing the AI Act's provisions, on December 8, the Council presidency and the EU Parliament’s negotiators reached a provisional agreement on the proposal for the AI Act. (Congratulations to everyone involved!)
However, an important reminder is that we don't have the final text yet. According to the Council of the EU's press release:
"(...) work will continue at technical level in the coming weeks to finalise the details of the new regulation. The presidency will submit the compromise text to the member states’ representatives (Coreper) for endorsement once this work has been concluded. The entire text will need to be confirmed by both institutions and undergo legal-linguistic revision before formal adoption by the co-legislators."
So despite the urge and buzz around the topic, there is NO final text yet.
🚨 AI Act + Data Protection
As the final text of the AI Act is being finalized, one important topic is the interaction between "AI law" and data protection law. For example, there will be situations in which both the GDPR and the AI Act will be applicable. We can expect various challenges, among them:
This is an emerging topic that will have meaningful consequences for privacy and AI compliance, and it is still not clear how the intersection between the two fields will work out in practice.
Above is an infographic to help clarify this intersection and the upcoming challenges.
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🧠 AI-based neurotechnology and cognitive liberty
Unpopular opinion: cognitive liberty will be one of the most important topics in the coming years, and most people have no idea what it is.
As AI-based neurotechnology spreads, cognitive liberty, brain privacy, and freedom of thought become major issues in the context of privacy, data protection, and AI regulation.
In May, I spoke with Prof. Nita Farahany (author of The Battle for Your Brain) about the topic, and in this short clip from our conversation, she brilliantly explains what these concepts mean:
To dive deeper and learn more:
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🇮🇳 India's guidelines for prevention and regulation of dark patterns
According to India's Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), dark patterns are "any practices or deceptive design patterns using UI/UX (user interface/user experience) interactions on any platform; designed to mislead or trick users to do something they originally did not intend or want to do; by subverting or impairing the consumer autonomy, decision making or choice; amounting to misleading advertisement or unfair trade practice or violation of consumer rights."
Last week, the CCPA issued its "Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns" (see also the press release). The guidelines state boldly: "no person, including any platform, shall engage in any dark pattern." (Article 4 - Prohibitions against engaging in dark patterns).
Its "Annex I" contains what they consider dark patterns, which reflect common categories proposed by researchers in the field:
I often discuss dark patterns in this newsletter, and you can check out previous articles in the archive. You can also check out my academic article with a proposed taxonomy for dark patterns in privacy, "Dark Patterns in Personal Data Collection: Definition, Taxonomy, and Lawfulness."
It's great to see India joining the EU, California, and others who have taken a firm stand against deceptive design practices. Hopefully, more states, countries, and regions will join.
📎 Job opportunities
Are you looking for a job in privacy? Transitioning to AI governance? There are hundreds of open positions available worldwide. Check out our global privacy job board and AI job board. Good luck!
🎓 Privacy managers: upskill your team
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📚 AI Book Club
250+ people have registered for our AI Book Club.
There will be book commentators, and the goal is to have a critical discussion on AI-related challenges, narratives, and perspectives.
The AI book club is free and will help you read more (and more motivated). Join today, and we'll send you an invitation to participate in the upcoming meetings.
🟡 NEW: Privacy, Tech & AI Bootcamp
I'm so happy to launch today our new 4-week bootcamp on privacy, tech, and AI! You can't miss it, here's why:
Read more about the program and save your spot here.
🖥️ Privacy & AI live talks
On January 8, I will discuss with three leading privacy experts, Odia Kagan (Fox Rothschild), Nia Cross Castelly (Checks / Google), and Gal Ringel (MineOS), what to expect and how to get ready for 2024's privacy challenges. We'll talk about:
This is a free event, and if you are a privacy professional, you cannot miss it! Register using this link to be notified when it starts, participate live, comment in the chat, and receive the recording to re-watch.
*Every month, I host a live conversation with a global expert - I've spoken with Max Schrems, Dr. Ann Cavoukian, Prof. Daniel Solove, and various others. Access the recordings on my YouTube channel or podcast.
⛔ The AI Act has a problem (and it's not what most people think)
For the last few days, the trending topic in privacy and legal circles is definitely the recently announced AI Act (although, as I've highlighted above, there is no final text yet).
Despite the overall excitement, I've noticed that there are a few problematic issues that have not been raised, and we might end up with challenges that are, to some extent, similar to what we see in the data protection field. And the issue is not what most people think. I explain:
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Driving Innovation in Blockchain & AI | Business Information Security Officer
1yAbsolutely, the tech landscape is on the brink of a significant transformation. With AI governance and regulation taking center stage globally, the coming years will reshape how we approach technology. It's a pivotal moment, where balance between innovation and responsibility will define our digital future.
Web Designer, UX Designer, Σχεδιαστής Ιστοσελίδων, Επεξεργαστής Εικόνας
1yGood news!