Digital law

AI has become increasingly pervasive as have ethical and legal issues surrounding its use. The EY Digital Law team provides legal advice on a spectrum of issues associated with AI including:

1. Regulatory compliance: EY Law teams help companies to navigate and implement regulations surrounding AI and the collection, use and storage of data, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), EU Artificial Intelligence Act and compliance in the pharmaceutical sector. “Responsible AI” policies may help to provide guidance on legal compliance and ethical principles.
2. Intellectual property: EY Law teams can assist clients in securing ownership in AI software or the results of AI itself. License agreements on data play a crucial role here.
3. Data privacy and cybersecurity laws: AI can pose privacy risks to individuals in cases of unauthorized use, access to personal data or data breaches. EY Law teams assist in conducting privacy impact assessments (PIAs) to help identify and manage these risks.
4. Employment law: We provide guidance to help organizations manage risks that may happen when AI systems reproduce and amplify existing biases in the workplace, such as racial or gender bias. Automation has also led to concerns about the impact of AI on employment and workers' rights. New AI technologies can also be subject to co-decisioning, where we support in communication and negotiation with workers councils.
5. Contract law: EY Law teams help draft relevant agreements including clauses on liability, licenses and privacy.  

Taxi, hotel and financial services regulations are illustrative examples where new digital and sharing economy business models collide with regulations. Digitalization often makes human work superfluous, and triggers specific employment law topics.

EY Digital Law team can help clients identify risk areas and plan to meet the challenges of transformative change, encompassing the legal aspects of regulation in terms of the digital transformation both generally and specific to your sector in the following areas:

• Financial services
• Employment regulation
• Retention and localization duties
• Pharma and healthcare
   

In practice, digital’s ability to transcend borders is part of its appeal. However, laws are grounded in a world that is defined with borders, and within them, ever-changing laws concerning data privacy, trade, transactions, IP, crypto currencies and more.

An organization’s digital platform is a bridge to its customers and, with it, an organization must confirm that it is not only compliant with e-commerce laws and regulations but also is protecting its interests as it contracts via its digital platform. EY’s integrated law and tax services are particularly critical as the tax and legal aspects of an online business are so entwined, and can help clients:

• Address consumer protection and competition laws as e-commerce capabilities develop and evolve
• Build the legal framework of an e-commerce business by drafting legal agreements for use online
• Protect digital intellectual property appropriately
• Facilitate compliance with global data privacy requirements for a digital business
• Advise on the contractual basis for contracting online, including preparation of user terms and conditions and use of digital signatures
• Assist with the contractual agreements required to get the client’s digital premises off the ground – including software licenses, website design agreements and R&D agreements.