Thomson Reuters Introduces Data Privacy Advisor

New York – Thomson Reuters is introducing Data Privacy Advisor – a specialized data privacy research solution that brings the company’s vast collection of global legal and regulatory information together with expansive data privacy guidance from Practical Law editors, curated news, and a question-answering feature built by artificial intelligence and technology professionals from Thomson Reuters and IBM Watson.

The data privacy landscape is being reshaped by major global trends, including the digitization of data, continued globalization of business, and an increasingly complex regulatory environment. And it’s only getting more complicated with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into effect in the EU this year. In a recent survey conducted by Thomson Reuters of nearly 1,000 data privacy professionals in nine countries, 44% claim already to be failing to comply with data privacy regulations. They need help navigating the patchwork of data protection and privacy laws, and avoiding expensive sanctions for non-compliance.

Data Privacy Advisor

Only Thomson Reuters has the subject matter expertise, global legal and regulatory content, and industry-leading technology to create a product tailored to the unique challenges of today’s data privacy professional.

Data Privacy Advisor was created to support privacy professionals at multinational businesses and law firms, and offers a deeper understanding of the law and privacy obligations across multiple jurisdictions. Data Privacy Advisor provides:

• Global statutory and regulatory materials – including pending legislation and regulations, data privacy country guides for 80+ countries, the full GDPR library, and Practical Law know-how content directed to global legal and program management issues
• Question answering via IBM Watson-enabled technology that allows users to ask relevant questions in their own words and receive a full-sentence answer
• Curated news, analysis and blog content specific to data privacy
• Related Concepts – a feature designed to help users discover additional insights that otherwise might go unnoticed, also enabled by Watson.

“Innovation has been our lifeblood for more than 100 years,” said Susan Taylor Martin, president of the Thomson Reuters Legal business. “Data Privacy Advisor is a great example of how we’ve brought together our global content, domain expertise and distinctive technology to meet the needs of legal and compliance professionals.”

Question-answering with confidence

Backing up the unrivaled content within Data Privacy Advisor is a next-generation question-answering feature, Ask Watson a Question, currently in beta. It is the world’s first question-answering feature for global privacy compliance and was built in partnership by the Thomson Reuters Center for Cognitive Computing and IBM Watson.

The Ask Watson a Question feature was trained by experts on thousands of question/answer pairs. “Our first step was to teach Watson the language of law,” said Khalid Al-Kofahi, vice president of Research and Development at Thomson Reuters and head of its Center for Cognitive Computing. Industry experts, like attorney editors from the Thomson Reuters Practical Law team and research scientists, taught Watson to understand the nuance of legalese – be it simple definitions, such as “parties” or “organizations,” or more specific concepts that data privacy professionals manage regularly. During the training process, the team solicited feedback from privacy professionals who, along with Thomson Reuters and IBM Watson experts, graded more than 60,000 responses from Watson, helping the system learn and provide increasingly refined responses. “Adding the AI capability from Watson to our own in-house AI expertise made a true collaboration between our teams to help Watson understand the law and the context of the questions – not just memorize the questions and answers – so the platform truly helps data privacy professionals find the answers they need,” Al-Kofahi added.

“We’re delighted to support Thomson Reuters by bringing IBM's Watson AI capabilities to Data Privacy Advisor,” said Beth Smith, general manager, IBM Watson and AI. “Watson technology is uniquely suited for data-intensive and complex industries."

“At the heart of any product is a significant problem that needed to be solved,” said Taylor Martin. “It’s clear that privacy professionals are under enormous pressure to help businesses protect the personal data they store and use, while also complying with a complex legal and regulatory environment. We’re delighted to bring together our information, legal guidance and domain expertise with not only our technology, but the technology of IBM Watson, to offer a real solution to the fundamental problems of today’s privacy practitioners.”

Data Privacy Advisor is available in the U.S., United Kingdom and Canada. For more information, visit legalsolutions.com/data-privacy-advisor.

Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters is the world’s leading source of news and information for professional markets. Our customers rely on us to deliver the intelligence, technology and expertise they need to find trusted answers. The business has operated in more than 100 countries for more than 100 years. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges. For more information, visit www.thomsonreuters.com.

CONTACT

Scott Augustin
Thomson Reuters
651-848-5793
scott.augustin@thomsonreuters.com