Berlin data regulator reports surge in AI-related privacy complaints in 2025
Berlin's data protection officer reported a 52 percent surge in complaints about AI systems to 9,224 in 2025, with inspections revealing that companies frequently violated transparency requirements when training AI models on personal data and that unauthorized access to sensitive personal information occurred in healthcare and law enforcement settings. The regulator issued 59 fines totaling €79,450.
What happened
Berlin's data protection officer Meike Kamp reported in her 2025 annual report a sharp rise in complaints about AI systems, with complaints, tips and requests for advice surging in 2025.
On-site inspections at companies revealed that transparency requirements for AI deployment were frequently violated. One company processed debtor data to increase payment rates in collection procedures without adequately informing affected persons about AI model training. An online platform trained a customer-service AI system without transparency to the affected persons.
Complaints also involved unauthorized access to personal data in healthcare and law enforcement contexts, including a psychiatrist receptionist using a patient's email to request a personal meeting, a doctor accessing a subordinate employee's health records without apparent reason, and a police officer accessing a case file in which he was listed as a suspect.
Reported impact
Complaints to the Berlin data protection authority surged 52 percent from 6,036 in 2024 to 9,224 in 2025, the highest number on record.
Index analysis
The regulator identified systematic failures in transparency compliance when deploying AI systems for data processing and analysis.
Governance controls
The data protection authority issued 53 warnings and 59 fines totaling €79,450. The regulator recommended that companies carefully verify whether their AI training data is truly anonymized and whether legal transparency obligations are met.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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