Luís Oliveira lost his ability to speak due to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in early 2023. However, in May 2024, he made his voice heard around the world. Luís, who sadly passed away in the meantime, made an historic appearance at the United Nations summit AI for Good, becoming the first ALS patient to demonstrate the use of Halo. This groundbreaking technology, developed under the PRR-funded Centre for Responsible AI (CRAI) project, enables communication without speech or typing, by combining Generative AI with a non-invasive neural interface that translates bioelectrical signal patterns into language.

Halo, developed by Unbabel—the leading partner in this large-scale initiative—is perhaps the most visible innovation to emerge from the CRAI consortium. With €51 million in funding, CRAI aims to promote fair, transparent, eco-friendly, and trustworthy Artificial Intelligence. The initiative is structured around three key areas. Technology developers, including startups and companies focused on product development, ensure AI research directly supports real-world applications, such as Unbabel’s Halo. Fundamental research, led by top institutions like INESC-ID, Instituto de Telecomunicações, and the Champalimaud Foundation, drives cutting-edge AI advancements. Industry and healthcare adopters, such as Hospital de São João, Bial, and Luz Saúde, integrate AI solutions into their operations, ensuring broad societal impact. In total, CRAI brings together 10 startups, two unicorns, a law firm, five industry leaders, and eight research centers.

At INESC-ID, four different research teams—led by Bruno Martins, Arlindo Oliveira, Rui Prada, and Paolo Romano—collaborate on various aspects of the project, with Responsible AI as a core pillar. Alongside this vision of connecting with companies, the teams are developing highly applied solutions.

“CRAI is built on three fundamental principles: fairness, ensuring no discrimination towards groups of people; understandability and explainability, making AI systems interpretable and their decision-making processes transparent; and sustainability, ensuring computational feasibility and reducing energy consumption without compromising performance.” – Bruno Martins

INESC-ID’s expertise in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and dialogue systems has for instance been instrumental in supporting projects like Unbabel Halo. Other key initiatives focus on legal or clinical NLP, which are critical components of the Affine product being developed by NeuralShift, with its focus on streamlining legal workflows, or the automated medical record systems developed in collaboration with Priberam’s PCARE initiative.

Bruno Martins, from Human Language Technologies research area and the coordinator of INESC-ID participation at the project, explains that CRAI is built on three fundamental principles: “fairness, ensuring no discrimination towards groups of people; understandability and explainability, making AI systems interpretable and their decision-making processes transparent; and sustainability, ensuring computational feasibility and reducing energy consumption without compromising performance.”

The team led by Paolo Romano adopts a three-pronged approach to enhance AI efficiency and scalability, focusing on system-level optimization, cloud-level optimization, and self-adaptation. Meanwhile, research by the team coordinated by Rui Prada, on Social Artificial Intelligence and Social Robotics, aims to develop AI that interacts naturally and responsibly with humans, fostering a symbiotic relationship between people and technology. And Arlindo Oliveira’s team aims to strike a balance between safeguarding data privacy and security while leveraging customer insights in a competitive landscape.

CRAI’s main objectives include advancing fundamental research in Responsible AI, developing products and services that apply Responsible AI principles to generate economic impact, attracting, training, and retaining world-class talent, and promoting education and awareness through initiatives such as the Responsible AI Forum. These efforts are already translating into real-world solutions, enhancing accessibility, improving healthcare processes, and fostering ethical AI adoption across industries.

Text by Sara Sá, Science Writer | Communications and Outreach Office, INESC-ID / © 2025 INESC-ID

Images | © 2025 INESC-ID, Técnico, Unbabel