Claudette
- Florence, Italy
- September 2017
- European University Institute
CLAUDETTE – “automated CLAUse DETectEr” – is an interdisciplinary research project hosted at the Law Department of the European University Institute, led by professors Giovanni Sartor and Hans-W. Micklitz, in cooperation with the University of Bologna and the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
The research objective is to test to what extent is it possible to automate the legal assessment of online consumer contracts and privacy policies, in multiple languages, to evaluate their compliance with EU’s unfair contractual terms law and personal data protection law (GDPR), using machine learning and especially neuro-symbolic approaches to provide explanations for end-users .
- Closed source
- 75/25/- (% m/f/d)
- Public
Project stage (in ):
Implemented/Running Project
Implemented by:
Inhouse
Industrial Sectors:
Information and communication, Professional, scientific and technical activities, Activities of extraterritorial organizations and bodies, LegalTech
Usage of AI:
Natural Language Processing
Generation of AI:
Traditional Machine Learning (Linear Regression, CART, SVM, etc.), Deep Learning (CNN, Transformers, etc.)
Model training:
Supervised Learning
Contact
Responsible Person
Giovanni Sartor and Hans-Wolfgang Micklitz
Motivation and values
What in your view defines the public interest and how does your project meet this purpose?
Modern algorithmic technologies for large-scale analysis of user- related data enable businesses to profile their customers and anticipate and influence their behaviour. This can be a threat to consumer rights. We argue that in the consumer domain, regulatory initiatives are necessary but insufficient to ensure effective consumer protection. Legal interventions must be complemented by the countervailing power of civil society, namely of consumer organizations and individual consumers. We endorse this idea, with an addition: in the era of artificial intelligence (AI), when the power of traders is boosted by AI, an effective countervailing power needs also to be supported by AI.
How did the idea of your project come about?
Internal in our organization
What is the goal of your project in relation to the public interest?
Nowadays, as consumers, we have become accustomed, and sometimes even resigned, to the fact that businesses can continuously monitor our activities and examine our data, with the goal of increasing their influence over our choices. By now, artificial intelligence is considered largely responsible for the development of market practices which constantly expose customers to risks and threats. We envision a paradigm shift, where artificial intelligence technologies are brought to the side of consumers and their organizations, with the aim of building an efficient and effective counter-power. AI-powered tools can lead to better oversight of business activities, help consumers exercise their rights, and enable the civil society to better tackle the problem of information overload. In particular, terms of service and privacy policies can be analyzed for the benefit of consumers and their organizations with the help of AI-powered tools.
Did you follow one or more guidelines for ethical AI, and if yes, which one?
European Union - Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI, Unesco - Recommendation on the ethics of AI, OECD - Principles on AI, AI4People—An Ethical Framework for a Good AI Society: Opportunities, Risks, AI4People EU Principles, and Recommendations
Guiding Values
What are your top 5 guiding-values for the project? Top 1
Citizens empowerment
What measures do you use to implement this value? Top 1
Response from civil society
Claims and other actions stimulated by the use of Claudette system
What are your top 5 guiding-values for the project? Top 2
Transparency
What measures do you use to implement this value? Top 2
Quantitative and qualitative analysis of unfair commercial and data practices across market sectors
What are your top 5 guiding-values for the project? Top 3
Consumers protection
What measures do you use to implement this value? Top 3
Usage statistics of Terms of Services analysis through the system
What are your top 5 guiding-values for the project? Top 4
Privacy and Data protection
What measures do you use to implement this value? Top 4
Usage statistics of Privacy Policies analysis through the system
What are your top 5 guiding-values for the project? Top 5
Accountability
What measures do you use to implement this value? Top 5
Monitoring unfair commercial and data practices across market sectors
Identifying and evaluating changes
Design & Safeguards
Which stakeholders were involved in the process of development and implementation of the project?
Civil society, Academic researcher
How did you engage relevant stakeholders?
Workshops, Oversight board
Have the project results been validated by third parties?
Unknown
Have the design and the results of the project been made transparent to the public?
Yes
In what way have the design and the results of the project been made transparent to the public?
By a public organization, By academic researchers
Involving the people who will be affected by the project is a necessary part of the project design
5
Which direct channels for feedback exist?
contact by researchers' email addresses
How did you verify the accuracy and robustness of your system?
Standard performance metrics in machine learning
What technical and organizational safeguards have you implemented to protect personal data and mitigate possible harms? Choose all that apply
Do you take measures in regards to ecological sustainability of your project? Please elaborate.
We have investigated the use of lightweight machine learning models in order to reduce carbon footprint.
Does your project rely partly or fully on the use of open data and/or publish results in an open data set? Please elaborate.
Our own dataset has been made available under Attribution-Non commercial 4.0 International (UCC BY-NC 4.0)