Ethical Oversight
VIGILANT’s interdisciplinary consortium of leading researchers and engineers from social science and humanities, computer science, independent non-profit research institutes, commercial partners, police trainers, and police authorities aims to build a common European platform to help police combat the increasingly serious concern of disinformation that is linked to criminal activity.
Using an ethical-by-design approach, VIGILANT will meet the needs of the police authorities while being fully ethically and legally compliant with all European and national regulations.
Focus
The VIGILANT project is developed with a central focus on:
Ensuring that the highest standards of ethics and personal data protections are met throughout the project.
Developing a framework for the assessment of relevant Ethical, Legal and Societal Aspects (ELSAs) raised by the use of platforms for identifying and addressing disinformation campaigns by police authorities, with a special focus on autonomy, privacy, transparency, non-discrimination and dual-use issues.
Formulating guidelines for the implementation of VIGILANT’s solutions that consider ethical, legal and societal aspects in the short, medium and long term.
Following the most up-to-date EU standards and guidelines, such as the Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI and the proposed Artificial Intelligence Act.
Fundamental principles on AI
The VIGILANT project’s goal is to offer ethical guidelines to public authorities to serve as a shared European reference framework for AI development and deployment. These guidelines aim to maximize the VIGILANT platform’s positive ethical impact while minimizing ethical risks. They adhere to the seven fundamental principles outlined by the High-Level Expert Group on AI.
Human autonomy
AI systems should support and enhance human autonomy, rather than replace or undermine it.
Prevention of harm
AI systems should be designed to avoid and minimize harm, for example through safety measures.
Fairness
AI systems should be fair and avoid discrimination, particularly with respect to groups that are already disadvantaged.
Data protection and privacy
AI systems should respect privacy and data protection, and ensure that personal data is appropriately protected.
Transparency and explainability
AI systems should be designed to avoid and minimize harm, for example through safety measures.
Diversity, non-discrimination, and justice
AI systems should respect the diversity of people and ensure that decisions are fair and non-discriminatory.
Societal and environmental well-being
AI systems should promote societal and environmental well-being and contribute to sustainable development.
External
Ethics Board
The External Ethics Board (EEB) is a committee made up of VIGILANT’s Ethics lead along with two external members to advise how privacy, ethics, legal and societal impact requirements are approached within the consortium and monitor to ensure that they are in accordance with the VIGILANT’s Ethics Requirements.
VIGILANT also has an External Ethics Advisory Board comprised of leading experts on ethics, law, privacy and security which complements our significant focus on ethics within the work packages and our internal project ethics board.