“I have given considerable thought to whether the OAIC should invest additional resources in investigating the activities of Clearview AI, a company that has already been investigated by the OAIC and is the subject of regulatory investigations in at least three jurisdictions around the world and a class action lawsuit in the United States,” Kind said. “Taking into account all relevant factors, I am not convinced that further action is warranted at this time in the specific case of Clearview AI.”
However, Kind stressed that Clearview is by no means alone and that many AI companies around the world are collecting all kinds of sensitive data.
“Clearview AI’s practices at the time of the finding were concerning and are becoming increasingly common due to its pursuit of developing generative artificial intelligence models. In August 2023, the OAIC, along with 11 other data protection and privacy regulators, published a statement on the need to address the issue of data scraping. In particular, it outlined the obligation of social media platforms and public-facing websites to take reasonable steps to protect personal information on their websites from unlawful data scraping,” Kind said. “All regulated entities, including organisations that fall within the jurisdiction of the Privacy Act by virtue of their business in Australia and engage in the collection, use or disclosure of personal information in relation to artificial intelligence, must comply with the Privacy Act. The OAIC will shortly issue guidance for organisations seeking to develop and train generative AI models, including how the APPs apply to the collection and use of personal information. We will also issue guidance for organisations using commercially available AI products, including chatbots.”
