Portugal reaffirms its position on the international Artificial Intelligence (AI) scene. A team of researchers from the CCG/ZGDV Institute has been selected to join an innovative project with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA, which aims to develop new approaches to make AI algorithms more transparent, reliable and explainable. The project, called ‘Advancing XAI’, was one of the winning proposals in the competitive call for the MIT Portugal 2025 programme.
The project will be led, on the Portuguese side, by Paulo Cortez, affiliated researcher at CCG/ZGDV and professor in the Department of Information Systems at the School of Engineering at UMinho, with the participation of researchers Pedro Pereira and Luís Matos, both linked to the Machine Learning & Intelligent Optimisation (ML&IO) group at CCG/ZGDV. On the MIT side, the project is coordinated by Rahul Mazumder, associate professor at the Sloan School of Management.
“Advancing XAI” was one of two proposals selected in the field of Artificial Intelligence in the competitive MIT Portugal 2025 Seed Grant Call, reinforcing the relevance and impact of the work developed by CCG/ZGDV in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science. The main objective of the project is to develop technologies that increase the explainability of AI algorithms, taking advantage of rules that are easily interpretable by humans and also of Large Language Models (LLMS such as ChatGPT), promoting greater transparency and confidence in their decisions and aligning with European principles and regulations, namely the European Commission’s AI Act.
CCG/ZGDV will provide the necessary environment to test and validate the technologies developed by its researchers in real contexts, taking advantage of its partnerships and projects with industry, thus ensuring the transfer of scientific and technological knowledge to the business community.
The CCG/ZGDV will provide the necessary environment to test and validate the technologies developed by its researchers in real contexts, taking advantage of its partnerships and projects with industry, thus ensuring the transfer of scientific and technological knowledge to the business community.
“This collaboration between CCG/ZGDV researchers and MIT is an important step in advancing responsible and transparent Artificial Intelligence. Explainability is one of the biggest challenges facing AI today, and projects such as ‘Advancing XAI’ are fundamental to ensuring that the technology is used in an ethical and safe manner, in line with human and social needs,” says Paulo Cortez, principal investigator for the project in Portugal.
Source: CCG/ZGDV
