intervenability
What It Means
Intervenability means people must be able to take action to control how their personal data is being processed by AI systems. This includes the ability to correct errors, request deletion, opt out of certain uses, or challenge automated decisions that affect them. It's essentially giving individuals meaningful control over their data throughout the AI lifecycle.
Why Chief AI Officers Care
Without proper intervenability mechanisms, organizations face significant regulatory penalties under laws like GDPR, which requires data subject rights like correction and deletion. Poor intervenability also creates operational risks when customers can't resolve data issues, leading to customer complaints, support costs, and potential discrimination lawsuits from biased AI decisions.
Real-World Example
A bank's AI credit scoring system automatically denies a loan application. The customer must be able to request human review of the decision, understand what data was used, correct any inaccurate information in their profile, and have the decision reconsidered - not just receive a generic denial letter with no recourse.
Common Confusion
People often confuse intervenability with simple data access rights or basic customer service. True intervenability requires proactive systems that let people meaningfully change ongoing AI processing, not just view their data or file complaints after the fact.
Industry-Specific Applications
See how this term applies to healthcare, finance, manufacturing, government, tech, and insurance.
Healthcare: In healthcare AI, intervenability ensures patients can correct medical records, request deletion of health data, opt out...
Finance: In finance, intervenability is critical for compliance with regulations like GDPR's right to rectification and erasure, ...
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Includes:
- 6 industry-specific applications
- Relevant regulations by sector
- Real compliance scenarios
- Implementation guidance
Technical Definitions
NISTNational Institute of Standards and Technology
"the property that intervention is possible concerning all ongoing or planned privacy relevant data processing[; ...] the data subjects themselves should be able to intervene with regards to the processing of their own data ... [to ensure] that data subjects have the ability to control how their data is processed and by whom."Source: Covert_et_al
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