From privacy policies to machine-readable governance: Rethinking data control in the age of AI
A piece published through the IAPP examines the limitations of traditional privacy policies as a governance tool and makes the case for machine-readable formats that AI systems can interpret and enforce directly, rather than relying on humans to read and comply with written rules.
Why this matters: Privacy policies were already failing before AI. Nobody reads them. Now AI systems are processing data at speeds and scales where a PDF of legal text does nothing. If the rules governing your data can only be understood by a lawyer, they are not really governing anything. Machine-readable governance is a real idea worth watching, but it also shifts power. Whoever defines the format defines the rules. The question is whether those formats will be built to protect people or to give companies a cleaner way to say they did.
Who should care: General readers · AI governance · Policy · Privacy officers
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