International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) (2025) AI Processed Human Approved
Automated Privacy Policy Simplification through a GPT-Powered Chrome Extension
This study explores how Large Language Models like GPT-4 can simplify complex online privacy policies while maintaining their essential legal validity. The authors evaluated multiple prompt strategies across 25 real-world privacy policies using standard readability metrics and ROUGE content preservation scores. Based on these findings, they developed a Chrome extension that provides real-time policy summaries and an interactive Q&A feature directly within the user's browser.
Problem
Online privacy policies are typically lengthy, complex, and filled with dense legal jargon, leading over 90% of users to accept them without reading. Existing attempts to simplify policies often lack real-time adaptability during active browsing or fail to address individual user questions, resulting in widespread uninformed consent.
Outcome
- The audience-adjusted rewriting prompt ('rewrite so a 10th-grade student can understand while maintaining legal accuracy') produced the highest readability improvements while preserving core legal content.
- Readability metrics improved substantially after simplification, with Flesch Reading Ease increasing significantly and complexity indices like Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level dropping sharply.
- ROUGE content evaluation metrics (ROUGE-1 Precision = 0.8862, ROUGE-L Precision = 0.6025) confirmed strong textual overlap and high fidelity to original legal terms.
- A prototype Chrome extension was created, enabling real-time policy summarization and context-aware Q&A capabilities grounded in the APCO theoretical framework.
- Readability metrics improved substantially after simplification, with Flesch Reading Ease increasing significantly and complexity indices like Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level dropping sharply.
- ROUGE content evaluation metrics (ROUGE-1 Precision = 0.8862, ROUGE-L Precision = 0.6025) confirmed strong textual overlap and high fidelity to original legal terms.
- A prototype Chrome extension was created, enabling real-time policy summarization and context-aware Q&A capabilities grounded in the APCO theoretical framework.
What it means for you
- CIO / IT Executive: On Monday morning, initiate a pilot program to evaluate the integration of a GPT-powered privacy policy simplification Chrome extension across a select department, focusing on user adoption and feedback regarding usability and perceived value.
- IT Manager: On Monday morning, prepare a technical feasibility assessment for deploying the developed Chrome extension across the organization's standard user workstations, outlining any necessary infrastructure changes or security considerations.
- Business Strategist: On Monday morning, analyze how the real-time privacy policy simplification and Q&A features of the Chrome extension can be leveraged to enhance user trust and potentially create a competitive differentiator for our online services.
- Researcher: On Monday morning, begin designing an experiment to test the effectiveness of the audience-adjusted rewriting prompt ('rewrite so a 10th-grade student can understand while maintaining legal accuracy') with a new set of privacy policies from a different industry sector.
- Policymaker: On Monday morning, review the research findings on improved readability and content preservation to draft talking points for discussions on enhancing consumer understanding of digital service terms and conditions.
Transcript
Host: Welcome back to A.I.S. Insights — powered by Living Knowledge. I’m your host, Anna Ivy Summers, and today we’re looking at a fascinating topic that affects almost everyone who uses the internet: privacy policies. Specifically, we’re examining a groundbreaking new study titled "Automated Privacy Policy Simplification through a GPT-Powered Chrome Extension." Joining me to unpack this is our lead analyst, Alex Ian Sutherland. Alex, welcome!
Expert: Thanks, Anna. It’s great to be here.
Host: Alex, let’s start with the big issue. We all see those massive privacy policy pop-ups, and almost all of us just click "I Agree" without reading a single word. How significant is this problem in the digital landscape?
Expert: It’s a massive problem, Anna. Research highlighted in the study shows that over 90 percent of users accept privacy terms without ever reading them. These policies are filled with dense legal jargon and lengthy sentence structures. Legally, companies protect themselves, but practically, it creates widespread "uninformed consent." Users don't actually understand how their data is collected, stored, or shared. Under regulatory frameworks like the GDPR, that creates a major trust gap between organizations and consumers.
Host: That makes total sense. Existing attempts to simplify these documents often fall short because they aren't adaptable while someone is actively browsing. How did the researchers behind this study approach the challenge?
Expert: They adopted a Design Science Research methodology to build and test a real-time AI solution. First, they extracted text from 25 real-world privacy policies across popular websites. Then, they evaluated how OpenAI’s GPT-4 performed across three distinct zero-shot prompt strategies: basic summarization, extracting legal points into a Q&A format, and rewriting the policy for a 10th-grade reading level while preserving legal accuracy.
Host: That’s a clever setup. How did they evaluate whether the AI was making the text easier to read without stripping out essential legal details?
Expert: They used a dual-evaluation model. To measure accessibility, they used standard readability metrics like Flesch Reading Ease and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level. To evaluate whether the core meaning was preserved, they used ROUGE scores, which quantify word overlap and content retention between the original policy and the simplified version.
Host: And what did the study reveal? Which prompting strategy performed best?
Expert: The audience-adjusted prompt—the one asking GPT-4 to rewrite the policy for a 10th-grade reading level—was the clear winner. It delivered the most significant readability improvements, drastically raising the Flesch Reading Ease score while dropping complexity indices. Crucially, ROUGE scores confirmed strong legal fidelity, with ROUGE-1 Precision reaching over 0.88. That means the model simplified the language without omitting vital legal concepts.
Host: That’s impressive! And they didn't stop at testing prompts; they actually built a working tool based on these findings, right?
Expert: Exactly. They developed a prototype Chrome extension. As a user browses any website, the extension extracts the live privacy policy and passes it to GPT-4. It offers a simplified summary with clickable headings that jump directly to the relevant section on the live page, as well as an interactive Q&A tab where users can ask specific questions and receive instant, context-aware answers.
Host: That interactive Q&A feature seems like it could really empower users. Alex, looking at the bigger picture, why does this study matter for business leaders and technology strategists?
Expert: The study grounds its approach in the APCO framework, which connects contextual antecedents—like transparency and literacy—to privacy concerns and consent behavior. For businesses, overly complex policies foster suspicion and friction. By providing real-time clarity, organizations can reduce user anxiety and shift consumer interactions from uninformed apprehension to evidence-based trust.
Host: So rather than treating privacy policies as a purely defensive legal shield, forward-thinking brands could use transparency as a competitive advantage?
Expert: Spot on, Anna. Incorporating AI-driven simplification tools—or adopting audience-adjusted prompting natively—builds genuine brand trust, aligns closer with strict regulatory expectations like GDPR and CCPA, and creates a smoother onboarding experience for users.
Host: That is a powerful takeaway. AI isn't just for automating back-office tasks; it can actively bridge the legal divide between organizations and consumers. Alex, thank you so much for walking us through this study today.
Expert: My pleasure, Anna.
Host: And thank you to our listeners for tuning in to A.I.S. Insights — powered by Living Knowledge. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode, and join us next time as we explore the cutting edge of technology and business strategy. Have a great day!
Expert: Thanks, Anna. It’s great to be here.
Host: Alex, let’s start with the big issue. We all see those massive privacy policy pop-ups, and almost all of us just click "I Agree" without reading a single word. How significant is this problem in the digital landscape?
Expert: It’s a massive problem, Anna. Research highlighted in the study shows that over 90 percent of users accept privacy terms without ever reading them. These policies are filled with dense legal jargon and lengthy sentence structures. Legally, companies protect themselves, but practically, it creates widespread "uninformed consent." Users don't actually understand how their data is collected, stored, or shared. Under regulatory frameworks like the GDPR, that creates a major trust gap between organizations and consumers.
Host: That makes total sense. Existing attempts to simplify these documents often fall short because they aren't adaptable while someone is actively browsing. How did the researchers behind this study approach the challenge?
Expert: They adopted a Design Science Research methodology to build and test a real-time AI solution. First, they extracted text from 25 real-world privacy policies across popular websites. Then, they evaluated how OpenAI’s GPT-4 performed across three distinct zero-shot prompt strategies: basic summarization, extracting legal points into a Q&A format, and rewriting the policy for a 10th-grade reading level while preserving legal accuracy.
Host: That’s a clever setup. How did they evaluate whether the AI was making the text easier to read without stripping out essential legal details?
Expert: They used a dual-evaluation model. To measure accessibility, they used standard readability metrics like Flesch Reading Ease and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level. To evaluate whether the core meaning was preserved, they used ROUGE scores, which quantify word overlap and content retention between the original policy and the simplified version.
Host: And what did the study reveal? Which prompting strategy performed best?
Expert: The audience-adjusted prompt—the one asking GPT-4 to rewrite the policy for a 10th-grade reading level—was the clear winner. It delivered the most significant readability improvements, drastically raising the Flesch Reading Ease score while dropping complexity indices. Crucially, ROUGE scores confirmed strong legal fidelity, with ROUGE-1 Precision reaching over 0.88. That means the model simplified the language without omitting vital legal concepts.
Host: That’s impressive! And they didn't stop at testing prompts; they actually built a working tool based on these findings, right?
Expert: Exactly. They developed a prototype Chrome extension. As a user browses any website, the extension extracts the live privacy policy and passes it to GPT-4. It offers a simplified summary with clickable headings that jump directly to the relevant section on the live page, as well as an interactive Q&A tab where users can ask specific questions and receive instant, context-aware answers.
Host: That interactive Q&A feature seems like it could really empower users. Alex, looking at the bigger picture, why does this study matter for business leaders and technology strategists?
Expert: The study grounds its approach in the APCO framework, which connects contextual antecedents—like transparency and literacy—to privacy concerns and consent behavior. For businesses, overly complex policies foster suspicion and friction. By providing real-time clarity, organizations can reduce user anxiety and shift consumer interactions from uninformed apprehension to evidence-based trust.
Host: So rather than treating privacy policies as a purely defensive legal shield, forward-thinking brands could use transparency as a competitive advantage?
Expert: Spot on, Anna. Incorporating AI-driven simplification tools—or adopting audience-adjusted prompting natively—builds genuine brand trust, aligns closer with strict regulatory expectations like GDPR and CCPA, and creates a smoother onboarding experience for users.
Host: That is a powerful takeaway. AI isn't just for automating back-office tasks; it can actively bridge the legal divide between organizations and consumers. Alex, thank you so much for walking us through this study today.
Expert: My pleasure, Anna.
Host: And thank you to our listeners for tuning in to A.I.S. Insights — powered by Living Knowledge. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode, and join us next time as we explore the cutting edge of technology and business strategy. Have a great day!