Data Access and AI Explainability

by Frank Pasquale

As managers digitize judgment using AI, their evaluations of persons risk imposing benefits and burdens in opaque and unaccountable ways. A wide range of harms may occur when access to one's personal data (and meaningful information about its use) is denied. Key data access rights and AI explainability guarantees in US. and EU law are designed to ameliorate the harms caused by irresponsible digitization, but their definition and range of application is contested. A robust policy evaluation framework will be needed to inform the proper level and scope of information access, as regulators clarify the contours of such rights and guarantees. By revealing the stakes of data access, this Element offers a useful evaluative framework for those interpreting and applying laws of data protection and AI explainability. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

84 pages, Hardcover

Published October 2, 2025