By Value-Aware AI we mean AI that includes a component performing the same function as human moral consciousness, namely the capacity to acquire and maintain a value system, use this value system to decide whether certain actions are morally acceptable and be aware of the value systems of its users so as to understand the intent and motivation of their actions and to properly and correctly engage with them.  

The VALAWAI project will develop a toolbox to build Value-Aware AI resting on two pillars both grounded in science: An architecture for consciousness inspired by the Global Neuronal Workspace model developed on the basis of neurophysiological evidence and psychological data, and a foundational framework for moral decision-making based on psychology, social cognition and social brain science.  

The project will demonstrate the utility of Value-Aware AI in three application areas for which a moral dimension urgently needs to be included: (i) social media, where we see many negative side effects such as disinformation, polarisation, and the instigation of asocial and immoral behavior, (ii) social robots, which are designed to be helpful or influence human behavior in positive ways but potentially enable manipulation, deceit and harmful behavior, and (iii) medical protocols, where VALAWAI tries to ensure medical decision making is value aligned.  

The project contributes to the general goal of making EU-based AI more competitive by being more reliable, robust, ethically-guided, explainable and hence trustworthy. It does not make new proposals for guidelines and regulations (for which there is already considerable effort) but advances the state of the art in core AI technology so that ethics is embedded inside applications making them grounded in universal, European and personal values.