Japan relaxes privacy laws to make itself the ‘easiest country to develop AI’

Opting out of personal data use won’t be an option because Minister says that’s a ‘very big obstacle’ to AI adoption

Japan’s Minister for Digital Transformation Hisashi Matsumoto has declared the nation will become the easiest place in the world to develop AI apps, thanks to legal changes that mean organizations won’t need to secure consent to use some personal information.

To make that happen, Japan’s government on Tuesday approved amendments to the nation’s Personal Information Protection Act that remove the requirement for opt-in consent before sharing personal data.

The changes only apply to data that poses little risk of infringing individuals’ rights, and when developers use it to compile statistics for research purposes. Even health-related data comes under the amendments, if it can improve public health.