Consent is the ethical, professional, and legal commitment to ensure that a person gives their free and informed permission for a specific action or use, such as data collection and automated decision-making. Informed consent is a legal term that extends this principle by requiring AI companies to educate their users about risks, benefits, and alternatives available to them.
Consent is innately related to the human right to privacy, specifically, the ability for a person to maintain their agency over data use, such as restricting processing, requesting rectification, and exercising their right to data erasure. Special attention is needed to ensure AI respects human autonomy and prevents coercion or manipulation.
Legally, regulations such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) require consent to be freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous. Ethically, informed consent helps companies build trustworthy AI, build a loyal customer base, and prevent manipulative and coercive practices that can cause people real harm.
As AI advances and becomes more pervasive in society, developers across sectors must empower individuals to understand their options and customize their permissions. AI companies and the regulators that monitor them are responsible for ensuring the public remains knowledgeable about navigating AI’s growing influence on their lives.
Recommended Reading
Jessica Fjeld, Nele Achten, Hannah Hilligoss, Adam Nagy, and Madhulika Srikumar. "Principled Artificial Intelligence: Mapping Consensus in Ethical and Rights-Based Approaches to Principles for AI." Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, Research Publication No. 2020-1, January 15, 2020.
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