Japan's parliament passed a revised Personal Information Protection Law on Friday, allowing companies to use sensitive information without the individual's consent, a move aimed at boosting Japan's artificial intelligence (AI) industry. The amendment, approved by the Senate, highlights the challenge of ensuring privacy while allowing developers access to the massive amounts of data needed for AI development. Information collected through social media and other platforms and used for AI or statistical analysis purposes may contain sensitive information such as race, medical records, and criminal records, but the data must not identify specific individuals. The revised law introduces a penalty mechanism for data misuse. Companies that improperly acquire or use the personal information of more than 1,000 people will be fined an amount equivalent to the profits gained from using that information. The Japanese government is committed to promoting domestic AI development, and the business community is increasingly calling for relaxed data protection regulations. The parliament also passed related legislation allowing the government to provide data to private companies and research institutions for the development of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and autonomous driving.
