The Retailer Spring Edition 2023

SPRING 2023

13

Legislators across the world are playing catch up in considering how the law needs to change. The EU’s AI Act is currently going through the European Parliament, and is evolving significantly as it does so. Its requirements include stringent obligations on “High Risk AI”, including implementing Risk Management Systems; lawful, relevant, representative, error-free and complete train ing data sets; human oversight and transparency. There is debate at the moment as to whether generative AI will be classed as “High Risk”. Most obligations are on the providers, but retailers should take note of the fundamental principles and consider their own implementation. For example, consider whether you should be telling consumers when you are using AI generated content, especially for marketing campaigns. The UK government has published its own white paper, proposing less regulation and a “common sense” approach, but without any specific details yet. With no new specific regulator proposed, the current plan is that UK businesses will need to answer to existing regulators, including the data regulator, the ICO. The ICO has taken a more business friendly approach than its EU counterparts on some issues, such as international data transfers. However, retailers should not wait for guidance; there are steps they should take today, including implementing a policy on permitted uses of generative AI.

Giles Parsons Giles.parsons@brownejacobson.com 020 7337 1505 Loren Hodgetts loren.hodgetts@brownejacobson.com 0330 045 2376 Faye McConnell Faye.mcconnell@brownejacobson.com 020 7871 8538