What Is Right to Explanation?
Right to Explanation is the legal right of individuals who are subject to automated decisions to receive meaningful information about the logic and significance of that decision, and in some jurisdictions to have it reviewed by a human.
Right to Explanation — the legal right of individuals who are subject to automated decisions to receive meaningful information about the logic and significance of that decision, and in some jurisdictions to have it reviewed by a human.
The right to explanation is primarily grounded in GDPR Article 22, which requires controllers to provide "meaningful information about the logic involved" in solely automated decisions with significant effects. Australian Privacy Act reforms propose similar rights. The Colorado AI Act and other US state laws create rights to request human review of automated decisions. In practice, satisfying the right to explanation requires: disclosing that an AI was used, providing an outcome-specific explanation (not just a description of the model), and offering a genuine human review pathway.
Source: GDPR, Article 22; Recital 71; Colorado AI Act § 6-1-1706
Plain-language explanation
The right to explanation is primarily grounded in GDPR Article 22, which requires controllers to provide "meaningful information about the logic involved" in solely automated decisions with significant effects. Australian Privacy Act reforms propose similar rights. The Colorado AI Act and other US state laws create rights to request human review of automated decisions. In practice, satisfying the right to explanation requires: disclosing that an AI was used, providing an outcome-specific explanation (not just a description of the model), and offering a genuine human review pathway.
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