THIS WEEK, IN THE ‘BEHIND THE SCENES’ SERIES, WE’RE SPEAKING WITH two representatives of university of pisa (unipi), Anna monreale (Associate Professor) and riccardo guidotti (Senior Assistant Professor). they wiLL BE SHEDDING LIGHT ON tHEiR ROLEs AND THE ROLE OF THE unipi WITHIN THE TANGO PROJECT.

Thank you for speaking to us today. Could you start by introducing yourself and telling us where you are based?

Anna Monreale (AM): I am an associate professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of Pisa and a member of the Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining Laboratory (KDD Lab), a joint research group with the Information Science and Technology Institute of the National Research Council in Pisa. My research interests include big data analytics, as well as ethical and legal issues arising in AI, such as fairness, privacy, and transparency.

Riccardo Guidotti (RG): I am a senior assistant professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of Pisa and a member of the Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining Laboratory (KDD Lab), a joint research group with the Information Science and Technology Institute of the National Research Council in Pisa. My research interests focus on big data analytics and explainable AI.

How would you describe TANGO with three words only?

AM: Cognitive-aware, human-machine collaboration.

What is your main task in the TANGO project?

AM: I’m the UNIPI PI and I’m leading the Work Package 3 activities on Hybrid Decision Making.

RG: I’m working on the definition of cognitive-aware explanations and decision-making processes exploiting such explanations. I’m leading the actives of T2.1, within the Work Package 2.

How do your professional interests match the objectives of TANGO?

AM: We have a strong interest in the development of trustworthy AI, and the methodology proposed in TANGO strongly relates to this goal. I believe that such a methodology will lead to a paradigm shift where the role of humans is fundamental and central to the entire system. This can contribute to enhancing human trust in AI-based systems.

What is unique about TANGO in your opinion?

AM: The link between the cognitive and computational aspects of a decision-making process.

What makes your organization ideal for participating in the research/activities of TANGO?

AM: Our research group specializes in various ethical aspects of AI, including fairness, privacy, and eXplainable AI (XAI), which are valuable for facilitating trustworthy communication between humans and machines.

What do you see as the biggest challenge for TANGO?

AM: Adapting the designed theoretical frameworks to the challenging case studies.

What does TANGO have in common with other EU-funded research projects?

AM: In EMERGE (https://eic-emerge.eu), led by Prof. Davide Bacciu, there is a strong collaboration between computer scientists and experts in cognitive science to study and define the awareness of AI systems, while also considering eXplainable AI (XAI) methods. This collaboration is a key element in TANGO as well.

Thank you for taking the time to speak to us, Anna and Riccardo! We look forward to more updates from the team at UNIPI.

To keep up to date with the Behind the Scenes series and all TANGO updates, make sure to follow us on TANGO (@TANGO_horizon) / X (twitter.com) and TANGO LinkedIn