A team of researchers from the CCG/ZGDV Institute has been selected to participate in an innovative project with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, aimed at developing new approaches to make AI algorithms more transparent, reliable, and explainable. The project, entitled “Advancing XAI”, was one of the winning proposals in the competitive MIT Portugal 2025 programme call.
 

The project will be led on the Portuguese side by Paulo Cortez, an affiliated researcher at CCG/ZGDV and professor at the University of Minho, with the involvement of researchers Pedro Pereira and Luís Matos, both members of 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 only two proposals selected in the field of Artificial Intelligence in the MIT Portugal 2025 Seed Grant Call, reinforcing the relevance and impact of the work carried out by CCG/ZGDV in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science. The main objective of the project is to develop technologies that enhance the explainability of AI algorithms through the extraction of rules that are easily interpretable by humans and also by leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs such as ChatGPT), promoting greater transparency and trust in their decisions and aligning with European principles and regulations, including the European Commission’s AI Act.

CCG/ZGDV will provide the necessary environment for testing and validating the technologies developed by its researchers in real-world contexts, leveraging its partnerships and projects with industry, thereby ensuring the transfer of scientific and technological knowledge to the business sector.

“This collaboration between CCG/ZGDV researchers and MIT is an important step forward in the advancement of responsible and transparent Artificial Intelligence. Explainability is currently one of the greatest challenges in AI, and projects such as ‘Advancing XAI’ are essential to ensure that technology is used ethically, safely, and in alignment with human and societal needs,” highlights Paulo Cortez, principal investigator of the project in Portugal.