Navigating the complexities of 19 different state privacy laws presents an ongoing challenge for privacy professionals. At the University of Texas at Austin’s 38th annual Law Tech conference, Haynes Boone Partner Gavin George shared strategies for managing these evolving legal requirements effectively. Texas Lawyer broke down the key takeaways from the presentation in the article excerpted below:
AI comes with new privacy issues, and there's no easy one-size-fits-all answer, said Gavin George, partner with Haynes Boone. …
George spoke at the University of Texas' 38th annual Law Tech conference at the Hotel ZaZa in downtown Austin.
He recounted a time when a general counsel called him frantic because her software company’s CEO wanted to convert the entire company into an AI-company.
“The CEO walked in and said, ‘We are going to become an AI-powered company. … I want to pull all the data that I have about my customers and run that through AI,’” George said. "Data from certain states and countries is a lot easier to train your AI model than data from other states and countries.”
Privacy must be built into products from conception, George said. Privacy professionals need to be involved at the product design stage rather than being consulted after development is complete, he said.
The U.S. has a complex web of data privacy laws. So far, 19 states have passed comprehensive data privacy laws, George said.
These laws generally provide consumers with rights regarding their personal data, including the ability to access, correct, delete, and opt out of certain data processing activities, George said.
“Nineteen laws are a lot and I’m not even talking about biometric laws or some of the new AI laws," George said.
