Building an AI Community of Expertise

Building an AI Community of Expertise

An update on Work Package 3, led by the French Ministry of the Interior.

Author: Lisandra Quitian, Project Manager, MININT

Within STARLIGHT, Work Package 3, led by the French Ministry of the Interior, focuses on building and managing an AI community. The first task concentrates on the construction of the AI Community of Expertise using a "building by doing" approach, i.e., by utilising project activities, particularly the co-development cycles, to bring together different stakeholders. Each co-development cycle represents an opportunity to experiment with approaches to collaboration, with the technical partners (such as researchers and legal experts) putting themselves at the service of the law enforcement agencies (LEAs) to focus on developing AI solutions to end-user challenges.

Through these co-development cycles, we are working on the standardisation of a collaborative working method, starting from the collection of end-user needs through to the achievement of an innovative solution. Various communication tools are being developed in partnership with Work Package 11 which focuses on supporting the adoption of AI in support of EU LEAs.

The methodology will be shortly put into practice at various national workshops led by the Austrian Ministry of Interior.

LEAs and technical partners collaborated during the co-development cycles to develop a useful tool for their activity. The feedback received was used to adapt the tool, so it meets the users' needs.

The collaborative work methodology implemented in the framework of the co-development cycles also includes monitoring work done by Europol on existing solutions to suit the needs expressed by LEAs. This effort continues, particularly in response to a demand identified by the Central Office for the Combat Against Organized Crime – a division of the French Ministry of the Interior, which was the focus of the first innovative workshop.

Finally, the last step in the development of innovative solutions will be to adapt and customise these solutions in line with national requirements. To help understand the differences in national requirements for the deployment of AI, the Estonian police have undertaken a survey on the "Customisation of AI Solutions". A summary of the findings will be made available shortly.

STARLIGHT is a four-year project funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 101021797.  It aims to create a community that brings together LEAs, researchers, industry, and practitioners in the security ecosystem under a coordinated and strategic effort to bring AI into operational practices.