A European Positive Sum Approach towards AI tools in support of Law Enforcement and safeguarding privacy and fundamental rights

Project Information

popAI

Grant agreement ID: 101022001

DOI

10.3030/101022001

Project closed

EC signature date 20 April 2021

Start date 1 October 2021

End date 30 September 2023

Funded under

• Secure societies - Protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens

Total cost

€ 1 599 617,50

EU contribution

€ 1 599 617,50

Coordinated by

"NATIONAL CENTER FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ""DEMOKRITOS"""
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - popAI (A European Positive Sum Approach towards AI tools in support of Law Enforcement and safeguarding privacy and fundamental rights)

Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2023-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

popAI was the successful application to the EU Call and the first dedicated EU Security Research action in ethical, social and organisational aspects of the use of AI in Law Enforcement, part of the EU SU-AI cluster consisting of ALIGNER, popAI and STARLIGHT projects.
A now concluded Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action, popAI brought together security practitioners, AI scientists, ethics and privacy researchers, civil society organisations as well as social Sciences and humanities experts aiming to boost trust in AI by increasing awareness and current social engagement, consolidating distinct spheres of knowledge, and delivering a unified European view and recommendations, creating an ecosystem and the structural basis for a sustainable and inclusive European AI hub for LEA.

popAI overall objectives were to:
Objective 1: Provide an exhaustive and taxonomy mapping of AI functionalities in the law enforcement domain, legal, ethical, social and organisational aspects, including inter-correlations through trans-disciplinary analysis
Objective 2: Provide a practical Ethics Toolbox for the use of AI by LEAs
Objective 3: Engage civil society and raise awareness to the general public for a European positive sum approach for use of AI in the security domain and safeguarding of fundamental rights
Objective 4: Facilitate knowledge exchange, improve and consolidate knowledge among EU LEAs across all relevant aspects
Objective 5: Facilitate advances in implementation of human-centred, socially-driven ethical- and secure-by design AI in support of law enforcement
Objective 6: Provide recommendations across stakeholder segments and AI roadmap to 2040 for policy makers, LEAs and the security domain ecosystem stakeholders
Objective 7: Ensure and promote gender-diversity for assessment and implementation of AI tools across all aspects in the current and future usage of AI systems in support of Law Enforcement
Objective 8: Pave the path for the establishment of an EU AI innovation hub for LEAs and the broader community

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

popAI has set the ground for a European AI Hub for LEAs that should foster knowledge and awareness of AI-based technologies applied to the security domain. The hub relies on the work and the activities performed within popAI project while lasting beyond the duration of the project.
The hub, indeed, gathers the exploitable results of the project and represents a way to “keep alive” the results of the work and activities performed within the project and consists of three main pillars/groups of popAI results: the Network, the Tools and Services

popAI Network: an inclusive Ecosystem and mapping of all stakeholder types and categories: Law Enforcement, academia, research, policy makers, technology provides, civil society and vulnerable group representatives.
The Toolbox comprises of three resources: educational videos, an interactive taxonomy and technology briefs.
Services include:
capability building services (e.g. roadmaps, best practices, training)
networking services (e.g. stakeholder mapping, policy labs, photo competition, workshops)
awareness services (e.g. recommendations, roadmaps, crowdsourcing activities)

5 proof of concept hubs created within the timeline of the project in Greece, Germany, Slovakia, Italy and Spain.

All popAI results and reference hub implementation is accessed through popAI website: https://www.pop-ai.eu/

In summary, the Exploitation and Sustainability Plan for the popAI Hub is designed with a forward-looking perspective. It envisions the Hub as a dynamic, modular platform that extends far beyond the duration of the popAI project. This vision includes the capacity for continual growth and expansion through the integration of new services and tools. These valuable additions can emerge from ongoing research efforts within projects like ALIGNER and STARLIGHT, as well as through collaboration with key stakeholders such as CSOs and EU institutions.
By fostering such adaptability and openness to external contributions, the plan not only ensures the long-term viability of the Hub but also paves the way for the establishment of fresh partnerships with other projects. In essence, the Exploitation and Sustainability Plan not only secures the Hub's future but also cultivates an environment of innovation and cooperation that will drive its ongoing success.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

popAI addresses a key challenge in relation to the creation of trust around AI technologies and tools in support of the Law Enforcement, while having the long-term vision to create a structural ecosystem that will become the European AI hub for the security domain. Towards this aim, popAI : (a) created an active, inclusive and synergetic popAI community and ecosystem; (b) developed a dedicated platform to support the activities of the ecosystem, (b) generated social engagement and active multi-stakeholder dialogue (civil society (general public, vulnerable groups and new citizen segments), LEAs, experts) around AI tools in the security domain, while offering a unified European view across LEAs. popAI (c) brought together consolidated spheres of knowledge from a (i) theoretical level: via a thorough analysis of human, gender-related, ethical, legal, social, socio-economic, cultural and organisational aspects related to the usage of AI tools in support of Law Enforcement considering cybersecurity, fight against crime and terrorism; and (ii) an empirical level by infusing empirical knowledge that was derived from diverse stakeholder segments (civil society- general population, vulnerable groups, new citizens, LEAs, experts in the area, etc.); adopting a transdisciplinary approach that bridged different disciplines utilising a collaborative co-creation perspective. This process (d) facilitated the creation of a robust "AI Security" ecosystem under democratic, human-centric and socially-driven terms, identifying human, social and organisational aspects related to the use and development of AI tools for Law Enforcement.

popAI contributed to the evolution of the European AI innovation ecosystem in support of Law Enforcement by actively supporting and boosting the development and deployment of human-centric, socially-driven, ethical and secure-by-design AI tools and technologies, also providing policy recommendations and multi-disciplinary best practises to all stakeholders of the Ecosystem.

popAI blueprint for AI hub for LEAs