Report on Responsible Artificial Intelligence

To mark the presentation of the Observatory's latest report, "Responsible artificial intelligence: vision and strategy to promote the use of responsible AI through legal advice," IE Law School held an event on the subject last Thursday, April 11th. The event brought together professionals from the legal world specializing in Artificial Intelligence, Data Protection, Compliance and more.

The report is based on the findings of a focus group conducted with members of legal teams from important companies representing various sectors. In this professional forum, held on March 7, participants shared their knowledge and opinions on the topic, and presented the main challenges, needs and opportunities that they identified from their respective positions.

Carlos Rivadulla, IP/IT manager at ECIJA, was responsible for presenting the report, prepared by this last focus group at the Observatory. The purpose of the document presented was to summarize the interesting debate that took place among the professionals of the working group, and to share the arguments, ideas and comments put forward during the session.

After the report’s presentation, an interesting roundtable took place involving heads of sector-leading firms’ legal departments. The roundtable was moderated by Asier Crespo, legal director at Microsoft Spain & Portugal. It was attended by Rosana Viejo, legal manager at Bankinter; Antonio Muñoz, data protection technical director, Global DPO Office at Telefónica; and Ana Regidor, chief privacy officer at Amadeus IT Group.

Rosana Viejo reflected on the idea that a DPO is not just a controller because they not only control risks but also give advice. Those in charge of artificial intelligence in companies must not only be responsible for controlling and reviewing; they must also advise the organization’s other departments and, of course, be integrated into the business.

"We have to start thinking about the distribution of responsibilities in contractual relationships and not just about being the first."
Rosana Viejo, Legal Manager at Bankinter

Antonio Muñoz, in turn, commented that the decision-making process must be well-established to monitor efficiency and control in data governance. He suggested a model similar to that of privacy governance, a coordinators group and compliance regulations. There will be many cases where it will not be possible to ensure proper functioning of AI systems if it’s not known where the responsibility lies.

"In AI, any user in the organization can do great things without calling IT, making it more difficult to undertake risk analysis."
Antonio Muñoz, Data Protection Technical Director, Global DPO Office at Telefónica

Ana Regidor reflected on the role of corporate legal counsel in this new context of change, where they must assume a leadership role, or that of a contributor to the adaptation process. She went on to comment that compliance and risk areas will have to assume responsibility for this change.

"Some AI tools were already used in the back of the organization, but now we are experiencing their democratization, where anyone in the company can use them."
Ana Regidor, Chief Privacy Officer at Amadeus IT Group

Antonio Muñoz also pointed out that employees must be given a suitable alternative so that they don’t have to search for tools to develop documents, images, code, etc, on their own. It’s important that generative AI is adapted to each organization’s corporate environment, and that it complies with information privacy and data protection policies.

Ana Regidor commented on the need to work on usage guides for employees, including what to do and what not to do, policies, communication, training and internal dissemination of knowledge. She emphasized the development of a policy of ethical behavior that will govern both the use and development of artificial intelligence tools and systems.

IE - ECIJA Digital Law Observatory

The IE – ECIJA Digital Law Observatory is an initiative set up by IE Law School to facilitate the analysis of and research into the impacts of the digital economy on the legal world. The advisory board comprises leading figures in the legal and technological fields, including Soledad Atienza, dean of IE Law School. Beyond AI, the other central topics studied in the observatory are sustainability, cybersecurity, legaltech, the metaverse and the economy, and governance and data protection.