GDPR Compliance for AI

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) applies whenever you process personal data of EU residents — including AI systems that analyze, profile, or make decisions about people. TruthVouch automates GDPR compliance for AI: DPIA generation, Article 33 breach notification workflows, data subject request handling, and evidence collection.

What Is GDPR?

GDPR is the EU’s data protection regulation. It applies to any organization processing personal data of EU residents, regardless of where the organization is based.

Key principles: Data minimization, purpose limitation, storage limitation, accuracy, integrity & confidentiality, accountability.

Maximum penalties: Up to 20 million euros or 4% of global turnover.

GDPR Articles That Apply to AI

Article 5: Principles of Data Processing

Principle	What It Means	For AI
Lawfulness	Must have legal basis (consent, contract, legal obligation, vital interests, public task, or legitimate interest)	Document why your AI processes personal data
Fairness	Processing must be fair, not deceptive	Transparency about AI decisions
Transparency	People must know data is being processed	Disclose AI system to data subjects
Purpose Limitation	Can only use data for stated purpose	Don’t use training data for different purpose
Data Minimization	Collect only what’s necessary	Don’t collect unnecessary data for training
Accuracy	Data must be accurate and up-to-date	Validate training data quality
Storage Limitation	Delete data when no longer needed	Set data retention limits
Integrity & Confidentiality	Secure data against unauthorized access	Encrypt training data, control access
Accountability	Demonstrate compliance	Document everything — TruthVouch helps

TruthVouch support: Audit templates for each principle; evidence collection

Article 22: Automated Decision-Making

Personal data cannot be processed solely by automated means (including AI) to produce legal or equally significant effects about a person unless:

• Necessary for entering/performing a contract, or
• Authorized by law, or
• Explicit consent obtained

Examples of “equally significant effects”:

• Denying credit or employment
• Exclusion from a service
• Discrimination based on automated profiling

If your AI makes automated decisions about people:

1. Document legal basis (usually explicit consent or legitimate interest)
2. Provide human oversight (human reviews AI decision before it affects person)
3. Allow data subject to request human review if they disagree

TruthVouch support: Article 22 assessment, human review workflows, data subject request handling

Article 33: Breach Notification (72-hour deadline)

If personal data is breached (unauthorized access, loss, disclosure):

1. Within 72 hours: Notify data protection authority (DPA) if risk is not low
2. Without undue delay: Notify affected individuals if risk is high
3. What to report: Breach facts, likely consequences, measures taken to reduce harm

Common AI-related breaches:

• Training data exposed in data lake
• Model outputs logged with PII
• Model inference endpoint accessed without authorization

TruthVouch support: Breach notification workflow, 72-hour deadline tracking, authority notification dispatch

Article 35: Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA)

When processing personal data in high-risk ways, you must conduct a DPIA. See DPIA & Algorithmic Assessment for details.

When DPIA is required:

• Automated decision-making affecting individuals
• Large-scale processing of sensitive data
• Systematic monitoring of public areas
• AI profiling or scoring

TruthVouch support: Auto-generates comprehensive DPIAs in 2-3 minutes

Article 37: Data Protection Officer (DPO)

You must appoint a DPO if:

• You are a public authority
• Your core activities involve systematic monitoring of people
• Your core activities involve large-scale processing of special categories (health, race, religion, etc.)

If you have a DPO:

• Involve them in DPIA review
• Ensure they sign off on data processing decisions
• Document their involvement

TruthVouch support: DPO review workflow, signature tracking

Article 39: DPO Responsibilities

If you have a DPO, they must:

• Monitor GDPR compliance
• Be point of contact for regulators
• Provide advice on data protection
• Conduct DPIAs
• Investigate data subject requests

TruthVouch support: Centralized DPIA review, breach notification, data subject request dashboard

GDPR Compliance Roadmap for AI

Step 1: Inventory Personal Data in AI Systems

Identify which AI systems process personal data:

1. Go to Compliance > Frameworks > GDPR > Assessment

2. For each AI system, answer:

   • Does it process personal data? (names, emails, IPs, device IDs, behavioral data, inferred attributes)
   • What’s the legal basis? (consent, contract, legal obligation, legitimate interest, etc.)
   • What are the purposes? (customer service, personalization, risk assessment, etc.)
   • How long is data retained?
   • Who has access?

3. Compliance AI generates inventory

Step 2: Conduct Data Protection Impact Assessments

For high-risk systems (automated decisions, sensitive data, monitoring), conduct a DPIA:

1. Go to Compliance > DPIA & Assessments > New DPIA
2. Select AI system
3. Compliance AI auto-generates DPIA
4. Involve DPO for review
5. Export for audit/regulatory file

TruthVouch support: Full DPIA generation and DPO sign-off workflow

Step 3: Document Legal Basis

For each AI system, document why you’re processing personal data:

Legal Basis	When to Use	Example
Consent	You have explicit permission from person	User checks “personalize my experience”
Contract	Processing necessary for contract with person	Loan approval AI needs creditworthiness data
Legal Obligation	Law requires the processing	Tax fraud detection required by finance law
Vital Interests	Necessary to protect human life	Medical AI to diagnose disease
Public Task	Government performing legal function	Public agency using AI for benefits eligibility
Legitimate Interest	Your interest outweighs person’s privacy	Fraud detection, security (with balancing test)

Document chosen basis in Compliance > Data Processing > [System Name]

Step 4: Implement Data Subject Rights

GDPR gives individuals rights over their data:

Right	What It Means	Implementation
Right to Know	Know what data you have	Provide data copy within 30 days
Right to Correct	Fix inaccurate data	Update training data if wrong
Right to Erase	Delete their data	”Forget me” deletion process
Right to Restrict	Stop processing	Don’t use their data for decisions
Right to Portability	Get data in portable format	Export as CSV/JSON
Right to Object	Opt out of processing	Stop using for recommendations
Rights Related to Automated Decisions	Challenge automated decisions	Require human review before decision takes effect

Implement via Compliance > Data Subject Requests:

1. Set up intake form (web form or email)
2. Track requests (auto-assigns deadline — usually 30 days)
3. Respond with data or explanation
4. Document fulfillment

TruthVouch support: Request intake form, deadline tracking, response templates, fulfillment evidence

Step 5: Set Up Breach Notification Process

Prepare for data breaches:

1. Go to Compliance > Incident Management > Breach Response
2. Create “GDPR Article 33 Breach” playbook
3. Steps:
   • Assess breach severity
   • Determine if notification required (72-hour DPA notification only if risk not low)
   • Draft DPA notification
   • Draft individual notification (if risk high)
   • Dispatch notifications
   • Document response
4. Set 72-hour alert

TruthVouch support: Playbook template, notification auto-draft, deadline tracking

Step 6: Document Everything

GDPR requires accountability — demonstrate you’re compliant by documenting:

• Lawful basis for each processing activity
• DPIA for high-risk systems
• Data retention schedule
• Data access policies
• Breach response procedures
• Data subject request procedures
• DPO involvement (if applicable)
• Vendor assessments (data processor contracts)

Store in Compliance > Records for auditor access

Special Cases for AI

Automated Decision-Making (Article 22)

If AI makes autonomous decisions affecting people legally or significantly:

1. Assess if Article 22 applies:

   • Is decision automated (no human judgment)?
   • Does it produce legal effect (contract, denial of service)?
   • Is it “significantly” significant (affects life prospects)?

2. If yes, you need:

   • Explicit consent from person or legal authorization, and
   • Right for person to request human review, and
   • Safeguards against bias

3. Compliance AI support:

   • Article 22 assessment
   • Consent management
   • Human review workflows
   • Bias testing documentation

Profiling (Article 4(4), Article 21)

Profiling is automated analysis of personal data to evaluate aspects of a natural person (reliability, behavior, interests, location, etc.).

If you use AI for profiling:

• Disclose profiling to the person
• Provide means to challenge profiling
• Allow opt-out (in some cases)

Example: Targeting ads based on behavioral profile — must disclose and allow opt-out

Special Categories (Article 9)

Special categories of personal data (health, race, religion, biometric, genetic, criminal) have extra restrictions:

Generally prohibited unless:

• Explicit consent
• Employment law requirement
• Vital interests (life-saving)
• Public task (government)
• Legitimate interests (rare)

If your AI processes health or biometric data:

• Extra legal basis needed
• Enhanced safeguards required
• DPIA almost always required

TruthVouch: Flags systems processing special categories, requires enhanced documentation

Example: Customer Support Chatbot

Scenario: You have an AI chatbot supporting customers. It processes:

• Customer names, emails, account numbers
• Chat conversation history
• Customer service history
• Inferred sentiment and intent

GDPR Compliance:

1. Legal basis: Legitimate interest (providing customer support efficiently) + Contract (customer service terms)

   • Document balance test (benefit to company vs. privacy impact)

2. Data retention: Delete chats after 12 months unless escalated dispute

3. Data subject rights:

   • Right to know: Provide chat export on request
   • Right to erase: Delete chat and associated account after 12 months
   • Right to object: Allow customers to opt out of AI analysis (human agent instead)

4. DPIA: Conduct if chatbot makes significant decisions (e.g., auto-escalates based on sentiment)

5. Transparency: Disclose in chat interface: “This conversation is analyzed by AI to improve service”

6. Article 22: If chatbot auto-denies customer support requests → require human review before denial

7. Breach: If chat logs compromised → notify DPA within 72 hours if risk not low

TruthVouch support: Generates entire compliance package in minutes

Next Steps

• Run GDPR assessment: Go to Compliance > Frameworks > GDPR > Assessment
• Conduct DPIA: DPIA & Algorithmic Assessment
• Set up breach notification: Incident Management
• Handle data subject requests: Data Subject Rights Workflow