Interior ministry, privacy watchdog to hold public debate on AI-era data use

The interior ministry and the Personal Information Protection Commission said Thursday they will hold a public debate on Nov. 1 at Yonsei University in Seoul on how personal information should be protected and used in the age of artificial intelligence, with about 200 citizens taking part.

The third edition of the "Everyone's Debate" series comes as AI services and personalized offerings spread through daily life, making data, including personal information, an essential input.

Lee Hae-min, senior presidential secretary for AI future planning, and Jeon Seong-hwan, senior secretary for integrated listening, will attend to hear citizens' views directly.

The discussion will center on three questions: what new value personal information creates in AI environments; how the rules should shift from prior consent toward prior notice with the right to refuse at any time; and how companies, the government and citizens should divide responsibilities built on trust.

Two experts will open the session. Kim Do-seung, a professor at Jeonbuk National University's law school and president of the Korean Privacy Law Association, will walk through current legal requirements for processing personal data using concrete cases. Kim Byung-pil of KAIST's business and technology management school, who heads the personal information division of a public-private AI privacy council, will analyze where the characteristics of AI-era data processing collide with existing rules.

Citizens will then split into small groups to share what they find useful and what worries them about personal data in daily life, before a floor discussion. The event will be livestreamed on KTV's YouTube channel, and participants can register views in real time through mobile voting.

Results from two weeks of online discussion, in which about 1,200 people took part, will be presented at the venue.

The commission has collected public proposals on AI-era privacy reform over the past month of August and plans to announce a policy direction reflecting the main views by the end of the year.

"We hope the third Everyone's Debate becomes an open channel where citizens' experience and wisdom come together to drive real policy change," Vice Interior Minister Kim Min-jae said. "The ministry will always listen in order to make policies that add to public convenience."

Song Kyung-hee, chair of the Personal Information Protection Commission, said the goal of privacy policy is not to stop all personal data from being used but to enable safe use so that everyone can benefit from technological advances with confidence. She said the commission will keep listening to the public as it pursues privacy reform suited to the AI era.