“Data synthesis is an emerging privacy-enhancing technology that can enable access to realistic data, which is information that may be synthetic, but has the properties of an original dataset. It also simultaneously ensures that such information can be used and disclosed with reduced obligations under contemporary privacy statutes. Synthetic data retains the statistical properties of the original data. Therefore, there are an increasing number of use cases where it would serve as a proxy for real data.”

“The use cases that synthetic data can assist with include AI, machine learning and other data science projects that require realistic data for model building and validation, software testing applications, technology evaluations and open data initiatives.”

Because it is no longer personal data, the use and disclosure of synthetic data would not require an additional legal basis or an additional consent.

Details from the International Association of Privacy Professionals.