‘Training your medical/nursing robot: from the General Data Protection Regulation to the European Health Data Space’

The development of medical and nursing robots based on artificial intelligence (AI) faces several challenges from the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) due to the many constraints it places on data processing and, especially, data repurposing. The development of AI systems requires a vast amount of data, most likely collected by other players, but repurposing of data under the existing legal framework is extremely complex. Aware of the obstacle that this poses to technological development, the European Union (EU) is preparing a new legal framework – the European Health Data Space (EHDS) – which is expected to facilitate the use, reuse and repurpose of health data for certain specific aims, including the development of AI systems for healthcare purposes. This chapter will explore data repurposing for the training of nursing robots, both in the light of the existing provisions and the expected provisions, and highlight the difficulties and loopholes that still persist.


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