Meet the expert: Nicolette Nowak to speak at PrivSec Global

Streaming live November 29 and 30, PrivSec Global unites experts from both Privacy and Security, providing a forum where professionals across both fields can listen, learn and debate the central role that Privacy, Security and GRC play in business today.

Nicolette Nowak is Vice President Legal, AGC & DPO at Beamery. With a rich background in data protection and artificial intelligence (AI), Nicolette’s career in-house at some of the world’s best B2B SaaS companies is marked by a commitment to safeguarding privacy in the digital age. Her expertise ensures Beamery complies with intricate data regulations while responsibly harnessing AI’s transformative potential.

Nicolette appears exclusively at PrivSec Global to discuss ethics in AI, and the challenges facing human rights protections as innovation takes hold.

Below, Nicolette talks about her professional journey and introduces themes of her PrivSec Globalsession.

Could you outline your career pathway so far? 

I have cultivated extensive in-house experience within the tech sector throughout my legal career. Having attended law school in San Francisco during the zenith of Tech 2.0, I desperately wanted an in-house position at a tech company. 

My early days on the Upwork legal team piqued my interest in the compliance facet of the business. The advent of GDPR reinforced the fact that data privacy compliance is a safe but innovative career path. Since then, I have been an early legal team member at some of the world’s best SaaS companies, including Collibra and Celonis (having moved from SF to NYC). 

I jumped across the pond to London and have been with Beamery for over three years, where I lead the legal function. I am fortunate that Beamery has invested in furthering my education in AI and continuing my knowledge in Privacy and Security. I look forward to what is to come!

What are the primary security risks that AI systems pose to global businesses?

Outside the traditional technical risks associated with AI (Adversarial Attacks, Model Poisoning, Data Breaches, Privacy Violations), one thing we need to consider is the environmental impacts of AI; some AI models require significant computational resources, which then require significant resource inputs and exacerbates our energy consumption.

However, the biggest issue is a lack of explainability: The inner workings of some AI models, especially complex ones like deep neural networks, can be challenging to interpret; this goes for internal employees and the general public. 

Lack of transparency can be a reputational risk for a business, as a consumer or regulator can grow suspicious of a company’s technology and inherently not trust the company, leading to further regulatory inquiries.

What challenges do private and public sectors face as organisations try to innovate with AI while upholding privacy?  

Maintaining trust with the customer is one of the biggest challenges. There is an inherent negative public perception of certain AI, and the corresponding privacy practices, which can impact an organization’s reputation. 

Building and maintaining trust requires transparent communication about how AI is used and how privacy is safeguarded. To get ahead, organizations must allocate adequate resources (financial and human) to ensure the proper development, deployment, and ongoing monitoring of AI applications from a privacy perspective.