COMPLETION REPORTThe Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Right to Privacy : A Comparative Study ofData Protection Law in Japan and Malaysia
Pek San Tay(+1)
Associate Professor
Faculty of Law
University of Malaya
In this research, I explored how artificial intelligence is used in the retail industry to enable retailers tounderstand better the preferences and purchasing habits of their consumers and market trends. This isessential in the business world because it will help retailers to make more informed business decisions
and enable them to deliver targeted advertisements which are relevant to their customers.
The research acknowledges that the proliferation of digital technologies has enabled enormous amounts
of information about individuals to be collected. These diverse sets of information are so voluminousthat traditional data processing software are incapable of processing so as to yield useful insight. Today,
big data analytics can sift through these datasets to reveal new insights and patterns that can helporganizations make important informed decisions. Big data analytics use artificial intelligence (AI)technology to extract new insights or predictions from the data.
As data analytics become prevalent in industries in Malaysia to draw predictions about individuals’ habits
and behaviour, it is important that certainty exists about the legal status of predictions vis-à-vis dataprotection law. The predictions can be privacy-intrusive and threaten individuals’ autonomy, although
this may not always be so. The Malaysian Personal Data Protection Act 2010 is silent on the legal statusof predictions. An assessment of the legal status of predictions is important because it determines theextent to which retailers who are in a network of related businesses, for example, entertainment, foodand beverage, cinemas, hotels and places of attraction can share with each other the results of their dataanalytics. If predictions from data analytics are personal data within the Act, then they cannot be sharedwith other parties without the consent of the data subject.
The research examines whether the Malaysian Parliament should extend the Act to provide control toindividuals over predictions about themselves. In doing so, the research explores the position in theEuropean Union, Japan, Australia and the United States of America. The finding is that in thosejurisdictions, predictions are within the remit of data protection law. It is argued that this is an overgeneralization and is inconsonant with commercial realities. The findings of the research is that adifferent approach be adopted to achieve a balance between individuals’ interest to control their data andcommercial needs to use predictions without undue hindrance. The research also make recommendations
on how the Malaysian Personal Data Protection Act 2010 can be amended so as to provide greatercertainty on the legal status of predictions, while at the same time balancing individuals’ interests tocontrol their data and the needs of businesses to use predictions to make better and more informed market
decisions.

Publication of the Results of Research Project:
Verbal Presentation (Date, Venue, Name of Conference, Title of Presentation, Presenter, etc.)

Thesis (Name of Journal and its Date, Title and Author of Thesis, etc.)
Name of journal: Information & Communications Technology Law Journal
Date: 4 May 2020
Title: Predictions from data analytics: Does Malaysian data protection law apply?
Author: Tay Pek San
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Online
URL of article: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13600834.2020.1759276
Book (Publisher and Date of the Book, Title and Author of the Book, etc.)