Marks & Clerk featured in The Times on data protection risks posed by AI agents

Marks & Clerk was featured in The Times this week in coverage examining the privacy and regulatory challenges posed by a new generation of AI agents capable of carrying out tasks on behalf of users, including reading emails, paying bills and making purchases. The article focused on concerns surrounding the data practices of AI assistant platform Spear Street Technology's "Instinct" service and the wider implications for compliance with UK data protection law.

Providing expert commentary, Eleonor Duhs, partner at Marks & Clerk and the UK's former lead lawyer on negotiations for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), raised concerns about provisions in the platform's privacy policy that appeared to permit the use of personal data for AI model training even where users had opted out. Eleonor explained that such an approach could breach the fairness principle at the heart of data protection law, which requires personal information to be handled in ways individuals would reasonably expect and that respect their autonomy and choices.

Eleonor also highlighted concerns around transparency and lawful processing, noting that the policy appeared to lack a clear explanation of the legal basis for processing users' personal data, including potentially sensitive information. She warned that failing to identify a valid legal basis for processing would risk non-compliance with data protection requirements, reinforcing the importance of embedding privacy considerations into the design and deployment of AI-powered services from the outset.

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