Key Takeaways: 2024 IAPP Global Privacy Summit

Over 5,000 privacy professionals recently attended the 2024 IAPP Global Privacy Summit – the annual April summit known for bringing together top minds in privacy and technology. With our in-depth engagement with the field at IAPP,  here are the top three takeaways from the privacy community:  

1. Privacy executives are ready for change in this community -- they're eager for new voices, fresh perspectives, and novel ways to engage.
2. AI and its implications are top of mind for everyone – everyone has a product, marketing, or engineering team that’s thinking of, or already doing something with, AI.
3. Executives want more from their privacy tooling – and are emboldened to share their pain points. They're no longer going to put up with the status quo given the better alternative now available. 

Ready for change in the privacy community 

The IAPP conference featured several new voices and fresh perspectives in the privacy arena, such as MIT Researcher and founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, Joy Buolamwini, presenting her work on AI bias. Additionally, Ben Brook, CEO and Co-Founder of Transcend, gave his first remarks on the main-stage, encouraging the IAPP community to “be bold on behalf of consumers and the future of our privacy profession” when considering how fast AI is changing the privacy landscape. 

Ben was followed on the stage by Kashmir Hill, The New York Times reporter, who led the audience through her insightful exploration of the ever-evolving intersection between technology and privacy, with her ground-breaking reporting on the ascent of Clearview AI. 

“Our privacy community is hungry for fresh perspectives on governance, deeper approaches to assessing and managing compliance risk, and new strategies for integrating privacy into business leadership.” Ron De Jesus, Transcend’s Field Chief Privacy Officer and the industry’s first field CPO, remarked, “And after speaking with dozens of privacy professionals, it was abundantly clear that folks are demanding more from their privacy technology and no longer have tolerance for status quo tooling.” 

Other industry executives remarked an eagerness for understanding the ever-evolving intersection between media and third-party data, practical analysis on enforcement trends, as well as the myriad of implications as companies adopt AI.

Unpacking AI governance for privacy professionals

One of the summit’s highlights was the AI Governance 101—A Masterclass for Privacy Professionals. Featuring Transcend CEO & co-founder Ben Brook, with Tina Hwang, Chief Privacy Officer and VP of Legal at Ancestry, Daniel Goldberg, Privacy & Security Chair at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, and Alan Wilemon, Director at INQ Consulting, the panel offered over 450 attendees insights and actionable guidance on:

• AI’s current legal landscape
• Strategies for defining the AI governance problem without their organization
• Tips for defining and addressing AI risks
• Guidance on building an effective AI governance program, and 
• Insights on the how to build a strong foundational for technical AI governance

Learn from the full presentation here.

Common pain points

When it comes to the support of privacy software, we heard folks speaking up louder than ever. A few common areas included:

• Disappointment with manual, ticket-based privacy software and legacy tools that require tedious investments and continuous configuration changes to keep up with business priorities and regulatory changes. 
• Eagerness to learn more about new technology-forward privacy approaches, including: 
• Telemetry-based consent for better compliance and better resource efficiency;
• API integration approaches for time-saving deletion automation; and 
• Machine-learning Data Discovery and Classification for digital transformations on Data Mapping in advance of the coming wave of AI. 
• Frustration with the lack of support and partnership needed to ensure privacy unlocks large business value and impacts top-line business goals of revenue growth, risk reduction, and brand building. 

The Transcend team engaged with thousands of privacy leaders in in-depth conversations, direct product demos, expert workshops, main stage presentations, and dinners and drinks.

If we didn’t get a chance to spend time together live, let’s connect and discuss your top privacy goals and business initiatives.