Nameplate of the Personal Information Protection Commission [Provided by the Personal Information Protection Commission]

The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) announced on the 31st that it held its 10th plenary session on the 27th and deliberated and decided on the results of the prior suitability review of Naver's artificial intelligence (AI) tab service.

The AI tab is a search service that summarizes and analyzes key content in a conversational format with an AI chatbot, rather than listing web page results as before.

Its characteristic is to provide more relevant answers by reflecting users' past search history and interests.

To this end, Naver is promoting a plan to utilize its service usage history, such as likes and shares on blog and cafe posts, as well as shopping history, in addition to search service usage records, for personalized answer generation.

The PIPC judged that the service could be operated legally on the premise of ensuring user control and establishing safety measures.

First, for users who do not want personalized answers, it was guided to easily understand the existence and meaning of the data utilization refusal function, and to continuously supplement practical ex-post control measures by reflecting user feedback.

In addition, through privacy policies, etc., it was mandated to transparently disclose the items and main contents of customized information used in the AI tab service, and to establish additional safety measures to prevent the misuse and leakage of personal information.

Furthermore, in the process of analyzing users' service usage history, it was ensured that sensitive information such as beliefs, political views, and health information, which are sensitive under the Personal Information Protection Act, would not be inferred or utilized, and that unique identification information, account numbers, and credit card information would not be included in the AI answers.

The PIPC plans to check whether Naver is actually implementing the agreed-upon matters once the AI tab is officially launched.

This resolution is assessed as a case that sets standards for the use of personal information for AI agent-type search services.

Since the introduction of the prior suitability review system in October 2023, the PIPC has deliberated and decided on a total of 20 review results, including two from overseas companies.

The PIPC explained that as AI technology spreads and data processing methods become more complex, the demand for companies to review legal grounds for personal information processing and safety measures before launching new technologies and services is increasing.

The prior suitability review system is a system where businesses, when finding it difficult to identify clear compliance measures for the Personal Information Protection Act solely based on existing precedents and interpretations during the planning and development stages of new services and technologies such as AI, consult with the PIPC to establish applicable measures suitable for the personal information processing environment. (Yonhap News)