Competency with Privacy Leads to AI Prowess, TrustArc Survey Says
There are numerous overlaps between privacy and AI. Here's another one: those who are competent with privacy are most likely to be able to handle AI well, according to a 2025 global privacy benchmarks survey conducted by Golfdale Consulting at the request of TrustArc.
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“If you're not able to competently use AI as it's relevant to your business, you might not be able to competently manage privacy either,” said Gary Edwards, co-founder and principal of Golfdale Consulting, during a TrustArc webinar Tuesday.
The survey found AI was the biggest privacy challenge for 2025, followed by cross-border issues and compliance risks. “In 2025, 57% of organizations used AI for privacy tasks, while 56% implemented AI governance programs,” according to the survey. “Yet, AI compliance remains difficult due to unclear regulations, limited expertise, and resource constraints.”
The survey found “companies that demonstrated high preparedness for AI regulations also reported much higher privacy competence, underscoring the strategic value of proactive AI compliance measures.”
That is also true when it comes to preparedness for AI regulation. “Organizations that are "prepared" or "very prepared” for these AI regulations show a substantially higher likelihood of having implemented critical privacy processes like data inventory, third-party privacy certifications, and breach notification protocols,” the survey said.
The survey outlined seven keys to gaining privacy competency: ensuring privacy is a business strategy; practicing privacy mindfulness; empowering employees to raise privacy concerns; having regular board-level engagement on privacy issues; encouraging operational mindfulness; conducting privacy training programs; and embracing privacy as a business differentiator.
Paul Iagnocco, data privacy principal at TrustArc, said communication within a company is "the most important thing" for AI preparation. “Too often I see organizations trying to do the right thing, but it was never socialized among the people that it needed to be socialized with.”
Edwards and Iagnocco said privacy will set the foundation for AI. “Organizations that are winning on privacy aren’t improvising,” the survey said. “They’re investing. They’ve centralized their privacy teams, operationalized measurement, embraced frameworks, and implemented purposebuilt tools. They’re embedding privacy not just in IT workflows, but in boardroom decisions, product design, and brand promises.”
The survey queried 1,775 professionals from across the U.S., U.K., Europe, Canada, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific. The professionals surveyed represented every major industry, from tech to retail to manufacturing, Golfdale and TrustArc said.