| Where the SabIA Sings: Governance and Regulation of Artificial Intelligence from Brazil | Digital Platforms and Markets

AI Regulation in Brazil: National Knowledge or Foreign Appropriation?

Abstract: The implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems in Brazil has grown in recent years. Along with it came the first concerted effort to regulate the technology through different instruments: first, the Brazilian Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (EBIA), then a first Draft Bill (PL 21/2020), and, finally, the most recent step, a Commission of Jurists in the Senate for the writing of an amendment to the draft bill. Regulating AI in the South presents a more significant challenge than in Global North countries, as northern citizens have older and more structured right-protecting mechanisms regarding data protection as well as more robust democracies and institutional protections and hence more extensive protection of human rights.

Thus, any regulation in the South needs to consider their population’s local context and vulnerability to the risks of AI and the utmost relevance of popular participation in the regulations (Arun, 2020). This article aims to analyze the amendment’s text to the Brazilian Draft Bill written by the Commission of Jurists. Is there a consideration of the local context and the population vulnerabilities reflecting the participatory processes in which local knowledge was emphasized? Is there a prevalence of foreign knowledge and appropriation of models of regulation? Are these models a rights-based or risk-based approach? This is a new analysis, and answering the question will allow the evaluation of the state of AI regulation in the country.

An analysis of the efforts so far to regulate AI demonstrate that, although there was the big goal of producing a framework to regulate the technology in the country, there was no proper consideration of the contributions made by stakeholders and the public during participatory processes as well as the resulting instruments were not fit to their purpose (Belli et al., 2023).

Author bios: Marina Garrote Researcher at Data Privacy Brasil Research Association. Master’s student at the University of São Paulo. Lawyer and academic in Data Protection, Digital Rights, Access to Justice, and Gender and Sexuality. Specialist in Gender and Sexuality at the University of the State of Rio de Janeiro.

Paula Guedes Law and Technology Specialist. Phd candidate at Catholic University of Portugal – Faculty of Law in Porto. Master in International and European Law Catholic University of Portugal – Faculty of Law in Porto.

Bruno Bioni Executive Director at Data Privacy Brasil Research Association. Lawyer and professor in the field of regulation and new technologies. Ph.D. in Commercial Law at the University of São Paulo, Masters degree in Private Law at University of São Paulo. Founder of Data Privacy Brazil and founding partner of Bioni Consulting. Member of the Board of Directors of the Brazilian Data Protection Authority, as a representative of civil society. Member of the Jurists’ Commission responsible for subsidizing the elaboration of the substitute draft for the Bill (no.5051, of 2019), which aims to originate Brazil’s Legal Framework for Artificial Intelligence.

Presentation originally published on April 26, 2023 on the DesirableAI website.