According to recent findings, 7 out of 10 individuals are concerned about privacy violations due to the spread of Artificial Intelligence (AI). There is also a strong call for transparency in how AI services handle personal data.
The Personal Information Protection Commission announced the results of the “2024 Personal Information Protection and Utilization Survey,” which reviews data handler practices and public awareness regarding data protection.
This nationally approved survey is conducted annually among public institutions, private companies, and citizens. It included participation from 1,200 public entities, 6,000 companies, and 3,000 citizens aged 14 to 79, with a focus this year on privacy risks brought by AI.
In the survey, 76.1% of adults and 76.2% of teenagers acknowledged the severity of privacy risks posed by AI. Both groups (72.1% of adults and 71.0% of teenagers) stressed the importance of disclosing how AI services manage personal data.
Overall, there is high awareness of data protection importance (92.7% of adults and 95.0% of teenagers). However, fewer respondents check the terms when consenting to use services: 55.4% of adults and 37.4% of teenagers do, mainly due to the difficulty in understanding the details.
The survey also assessed data handling practices in public and private sectors. Public institutions had a 99.5% compliance rate, while private companies had 59.9%. Public entities focused on internal management plans, access rights management, and control measures, whereas private companies prioritized malware prevention and internal management plans, especially larger firms with over 300 employees achieving a 90.8% compliance rate.
The most crucial government policy needed is promoting technology development and dissemination related to data protection, as cited by both public (65.7%) and private (25.2%) sectors.
Go Eun-young, Director of Planning and Coordination at the Personal Information Protection Commission, highlighted the significance of data protection in the AI era and committed to systematically advancing laws, institutional improvements, and technical support to build a trusted data society.