By Nishel Fernando

As several key data protection laws are set to come into effect next year, Sri Lanka’s Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya stressed that the country’s legal fraternity has a greater role to play in guiding society, to ensure responsible development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI), while safeguarding the privacy of the individuals.

In particular, he highlighted that a special focus needs to be on the informed consent, in order to safeguard the privacy of the individuals in the era of AI, as this exercise remains challenging.

“As we all agree that the rule of law being one of the paramount pillars of a democratic society, the members of the legal professions have a greater responsibility and take the lead and guide in proper direction that we should embark on. Data protection in the era of AI is a topic that we should embark on, deliberation, discussions and taking decisions to ensure that we preserve and protect our own identity in this galaxy,” he said.

He made these remarks at Data Protection Hybrid Conference 2024, held in Colombo, under the theme of ‘Development of Data Protection Law Under AI in the Asia Pacific Region’, last Friday, which was organised by the LAWASIA Communication, Data Protection and Technology Committee, in collaboration with the ICT Law Committee of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka.

Jayasuriya outlined that urgent and bold actions need to be taken to ensure both privacy and responsible development of AI, before it’s too late.

“Are we not too late? Do we have the courage to protect ourselves from further entrenchment into our lives? When we focus on these issues and find ways and means of bringing our own lives back, can we not place the need to ensure responsible development and deployment of AI in the forefront? What changes should we build-into, to ensure ethically acceptable practices in using AI to make it the facilitator, not the controller or perhaps not the master or the intruder but who would respect the need to obtain the informed consent before making inroads into our lives and compromise our privacy?” he elaborated.

As AI and other such technologies remain largely unregulated, he pointed out that society has already made certain compromises without completely being aware of.

“To what extent have we surrendered our thinking power, analytical skills and the ability gather and process information and reach at logical and rational decisions? Has the technology overpowered and reached a level that has deeply penetrated into our own lives? To what extend has the privacy that we jealously guard as one of the most important safeguards that each one enjoys to maintain our unique place among the other members of society been compromised with these advances, due to the inventions of our own members in society?” he questioned.

Sri Lanka aims to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for the protection of personal data with the enactment of the Personal Data Protection Act, in order to strike a balance between AI and data protection.

Parts VI, VIII, IX and X of the act entered into effect from December 1, 2023, while Parts I, II, III and VII of the act are set to enter into effect from March 18, 2025.