The Firm’s Managing Partner, Mr. Steven Thiru, imparted his insights on the development of commercial law and personal data protection in the advent of the artificial intelligence era, at the LAWASIA Data Protection Conference 2024. The event was hosted in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 6^th September 2024.

Mr. Steven, who provided an overview on Malaysia’s current efforts to harness the functions of artificial intelligence, was a member of a panel of distinguished experts, which comprised of Sri Lankan Supreme Court Justice, A.H.M.D Nawaz (Sri Lanka), Professor Sampath Punchihewa, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Colombo (Sri Lanka), Mr. Jayantha Fernando, Commissioner of Data Protection Commission of Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka) and Mr. Chandaka Jayasundera, President’s Counsel (Sri Lanka). The panel session was moderated by Sri Lankan Court of Appeal Judge, Dr Ruwan Fernando.

Key takeaways from the panel session were as follows:

• Artificial Intelligence ("AI”) possesses the capability to accelerate human productivity, especially in the legal industry. New inventions, such as contract-review AI systems, eDiscovery software, and AI-powered legal search engines programmed to locate and analyse cases in mere seconds, are tools for legal professionals to achieve greater efficiency in their work.
• However, legal loopholes, such as in Malaysia’s Personal Data Protection Act 2010, give rise to new challenges, pertinently the unauthorised use and retention of personal data by AI.
• Other issues following the growth of AI include uncertainty about who may be liable for damages where AI software is involved. Regarding intellectual property, issues regarding infringement of intellectual property rights and the ownership of AI-created intellectual property are still murky in Malaysian jurisprudence.
• Thus, legal and regulatory frameworks must be expediently developed to effectively strengthen personal data protection while facilitating the controlled and authorised use of personal data by AI. These frameworks must be future-proof and amenable to keeping in step with the ever-evolving nature of artificial intelligence.

The Firm extends its gratitude to the LAWASIA Data Protection Conference 2024 Organising Committee for this opportunity.