Trade Secrets, Big Data, and the Future of Public Interest Litigation Over Artificial Intelligence in Canada

Abstract:

To safeguard big data, many commercial entities deploy legal arguments that these data are trade secrets. Using a Canadian legal backdrop, this article suggests that this argument will hardly be robust, sustainable, or convincing when public interest litigation begins targeting issues of bias and discrimination in artificial intelligence. For now, trade secret litigation is an arena of primarily commercial interests. However, this article suggests that the default view among concerned companies that big data are necessarily trade secrets will be susceptible to attack when public interest litigants turn their sights on matters of bias and discrimination.