LUSO-BRAZILIAN PERSPECTIVES ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND BIG DATA IN THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF COVID-19: NEW CHALLENGES TO PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION

This study aims to identify and address the new challenges to the protection of personal data arising from the use of artificial intelligence and big data in combating the Covid-19 pandemic in the Luso-Brazilian context. This research proposes to investigate the parameters for an effective patient protection in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, with regard to the appropriate assignment of civil liability for damages possibly caused by the use of the aforementioned technologies and to the delineation of guidelines for the implementation of artificial intelligence in strict compliance with personal data protection policy (in particular, sensitive personal data). For this purpose, this study adopts the logical-deductive method, particularly using Brazilian and Portuguese bibliographic sources. This theoretical path leads to the recognition that, despite the potential benefits, the algorithms developed for the diagnosis of Covid-19 can cause particularly onerous results, mainly due to their significant degree of inaccuracy. Furthermore, in the medical field, when it comes to the processing of sensitive personal data, among the main risks are the irregular processing of personal data, automated decisions in the processing of such data and the lack of information or consent on how the personal data was collected, processed and shared. Thus, it is extremely important to investigate compliance within these new frameworks of medical activities, in light of Brazilian and Portuguese laws concerning the protection of personal data. Ultimately, this study aims to formulate some possible hermeneutical canons to assist the interpreter-enforcer of the law in the task of ensuring the protection of human rights in the face of new technologies, without inhibiting their continuous development, whose importance is daily substantiated by the difficulty of combating the Covid-19 pandemic.