Author: Jul Parke, PhD Candidate in Media, Technology & Culture, University of Toronto

As artificial intelligence technologies develop at accelerated rates, the methods of governing companies and platforms continue to raise ethical and legal concerns. In Canada, many view proposed laws to regulate AI offerings as attacks on free speech and as overreaching government control on tech companies. This backlash has come from free speech advocates, right-wing figures and libertarian thought leaders. However, these critics should pay attention to a harrowing case from South Korea that offers important lessons about the risks of public-facing AI technologies and the critical need for user data protection. In late 2020, Iruda (or “Lee Luda”), an AI…