Clearview AI Inc. v. Alberta (Information and Privacy Commissioner)
Clearview AI challenged the Alberta Privacy Commissioner's order prohibiting collection of facial biometric data. The court partially sided with Clearview on freedom of expression grounds, finding some PIPA provisions unconstitutional. However, it upheld the finding that mass scraping of images for AI training does not qualify as "publicly available" data under the statute.
| Court | Court of King's Bench of Alberta |
|---|---|
| Citation | 2025 ABKB 287 |
| Jurisdiction | Alberta |
| Decided | |
| Parties | Plaintiff / Applicant: Clearview AI Inc. Defendant / Respondent: Alberta Information and Privacy Commissioner |
| Judge | Justice Grant Dunlop |
AI context
AI system: Clearview AI facial recognition system
Same as BC case: Clearview's AI facial recognition model trained on mass-scraped public web images without consent.
Significance
Mixed constitutional ruling: found some PIPA provisions unconstitutional on free expression grounds while upholding the prohibition on mass scraping for AI training. First Canadian decision weighing AI data practices against Charter rights.
Outcome
OtherMixed outcome: court found some PIPA provisions unconstitutional as infringing freedom of expression, but upheld that mass data scraping for AI facial recognition training does not meet the "publicly available" exception.