Das TC Gebäude bei Nacht.

Internet Foundation Austria Awards IMC's Sustainable Computing Lab for AI-Driven Digital Protection Initiatives

17/01/2024

The Sustainable Computing Lab at the Institute for Information Management and Control has been honored with the Artificial Intelligence award from the Internet Foundation Austria. This award is conferred annually to individuals, teams, institutions, or projects that have made significant contributions to advancing AI in Austria, particularly by integrating socio-technical perspectives in their work.

The Sustainable Computing Lab (https://www.sustainablecomputing.eu) at the Institute for Information Management and Control has been honored with the Artificial Intelligence award from the Internet Foundation Austria. This award is conferred annually to individuals, teams, institutions, or projects that have made significant contributions to advancing AI in Austria, particularly by integrating socio-technical perspectives in their work.

This recognition is attributed to the lab's significant work on the Advanced Data Protection Control (ADPC) and the GUARDIAN project, led by Soheil Human and Edward Bernroider. The GUARDIAN project, officially titled "Generative User-centric Assistants for Digital Protection & Controlling," aims to elevate the field of digital privacy and data management to a new level.

The GUARDIAN project is designed to serve individuals across a broad spectrum, regardless of their legal or technical expertise, educational background, language proficiency, or age. It is particularly relevant for those interacting with digital tools or services that collect or process personal data, such as web applications, IoT devices, and VR platforms, and who need support in managing their online privacy and consent.

Central to the project is the Personal Data Protection and Consenting Assistant System (PDPCAS). This system employs generative AI models to perform several functions: 1) reading, assessing, and simplifying privacy policies and requests for privacy decisions, customized to the user's age, background, knowledge, and expertise; 2) explaining the potential consequences of privacy-related decisions to users; 3) offering suggestions for default decisions; and 4) adapting privacy-user-interfaces based on the user's context and demographics.

The project builds on the Advanced Data Protection Control family of protocols (ADPC, ADPC-IoT, & ADPC-KIDS), enabling effective communication between data subjects (users) and data controllers (service providers) regarding privacy and consent. The incorporation of generative AI in these assistant systems represents a significant advancement in supporting users with their privacy management, marking an important step in the evolution of AI in the realm of data protection.

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