March 29, 2024 – ELOQUENCE, a Horizon Europe research and innovation project, officially announces the formation of its Community of Experts. This independent, multi-disciplinary body is dedicated to guiding the development of conversational AI technologies, with a strong emphasis on ethics and inclusivity.
The ELOQUENCE Project is dedicated to enhancing conversational AI technologies. It is developing secure and coherent voice and chatbot interactions that align with European values, and legal and ethical standards. The project’s focus is on crafting innovative language models that transform complex dialogues into understandable, secure, and unbiased interactions. By leveraging technologies capable of adapting from limited datasets, ELOQUENCE aims to broaden support across a diverse range of EU languages. This effort is set to increase the reliability and accuracy of applications essential to safety and smart home assistants, aligning with the overarching goal of improving user interaction through ethical and transparent AI solutions.
The Ethics of Keeping a Human in the Loop with AI
Ethical considerations are fundamental to ELOQUENCE, aligning with the ALLEA European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, ensuring high standards from inception to implementation. The integration of human-in-the-loop methodologies is crucial for ensuring safety and reliability, especially in our safety-critical pilot contexts, such as contact centers and smart home environments, where heightened oversight is necessary. ELOQUENCE acknowledges the indispensable role of human oversight alongside AI technologies, fostering a collaborative environment where AI complements human decision-making. This entails a thorough evaluation of technological advancements across our pilot projects from ethical, legal, and societal perspectives.
Strategic Guidance and Continuous Evaluation
The Expert Community, comprised of seasoned professionals in technology application and governance, strategically guides project objectives, notably advancing Spoken Language Understanding (SLU) in safety-critical settings and facilitating the deployment of virtual agents in emergency call centers and smart homes. ELOQUENCE maintains continuous evaluation of project direction and outcomes, identifying biases, upholding gender equality, and ensuring compliance with European values and fundamental rights, such as privacy and non-discrimination. This approach positions ELOQUENCE at the forefront of ethical AI development, with a clear focus on overcoming limitations in conversational AI, such as context awareness, risk management, interpretability, and explainability.
The Community of Experts is composed of the following individuals as full members with diverse functions related to ELOQUENCE:
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- Ghasan Bhatti
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- Ferdinand Ferroli
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- Kai M. Hermsen
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- Amal Marc
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- Milos Mijomanovic
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- Holger Nitsch
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- Nuria Oliver
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- Julia Pshenichnaya
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- Sofia Tsekeridou
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- Duško Martić
The chosen experts from the ELOQUENCE consortium are:
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- Stelios Andreadakis
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- Alessio Brutti
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- Giuseppe Caggianese
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- Maja Fišić
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- Eleni Fragkiadaki
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- Djordje Djokic
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- Dušan Jakovetić
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- Tatiana Kalganova
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- Maite Melero
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- Helga Molbæk-Steensig
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- Petr Motlicek
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- Haris Mouratidis
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- Theofanis Orphanoudakis
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- Oldrich Plchot
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- Farhan Sahito
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- Martin Scheinin
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- Jordi Luque Serrano
In addition, the following persons are alternate members who will participate in the multidisciplinary expert assessment of emerging ELOQUENCE outputs:
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- Claudia Cevenini
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- Coen van Gulijk
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- Natalia Menéndez González
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- Alexandre Quemy
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- Francesca Palmiotto
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- Katie Pentney
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- Manuel Portela
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- Alberto Quintavalla
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- Anca Radu
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- Léonard van Rompaey
Martin Scheinin from the European University Institute, leading the project’s ethical, legal and societal assessment and validation activities, states:
“Ethical, legal and acceptable technology development is not just about adhering to some externally imposed requirements; it will also be a competitive advantage. Our commitment to ethical, legal and acceptable AI reflects our belief that technology should serve humanity in meaningful ways.”
About ELOQUENCE
The ELOQUENCE project, led by Telefónica Investigación y Desarrollo SA, a leading telecommunications company both in Spain and internationally, brings together 16 partners from across Europe on a mission to advance conversational AI. This collaboration is dedicated to enhancing conversational AI for safety-critical applications, such as emergency response systems and healthcare diagnostics. By leveraging the latest in machine learning, natural language processing, and ethical AI, the project aims to develop technologies that significantly improve the reliability and effectiveness of systems crucial to public safety and health. ELOQUENCE is committed to establishing new benchmarks in the field of AI, prioritizing solutions that are not only technologically advanced but also firmly grounded in European ethical standards and societal needs.
The Community of Experts is composed of individuals dedicated to shaping the future of ethical AI. To inquire about joining or learn more about our activities, please visit our website at eloquenceai.eu or contact us directly at info@eloquenceai.eu.
