What does it mean to build tech in the public interest?
Our research
focuses on evaluating, implementing, and scaling public interest technology
and promoting human agency in online environments
we ask questions like:
How can children shape the technologies that impact their lives?
What is the role of digital public infrastructure in building safer online environments?
How effective are different age assurance tools, and what is their impact on fundamental rights?
How can we empower people to have more control over their data?
We focus on delivering findings that facilitate real world change.
Australia’s Age Assurance Technology Trial
In 2024, the Australian Government commissioned a consortium of organisations, including Illuminate Tech, to deliver a large-scale trial of the effectiveness of age assurance and online parental control technologies.
Illuminate Tech are leading the trial’s approach to Ethics, Privacy, and Impartiality, as well as overseeing the design of the trial’s technical evaluation activities in a manner informed by international standards.
Read the trial’s Evaluation Proposal, led by Illuminate Tech CTO Dr. Asad Ali, and other project deliverables on the trial website.
Project DefAI
On-device, “zero data” approaches to age estimation technology have potential to offer accessible, privacy-preserving means of providing people with age-appropriate online experiences.
But just as these technologies are reaching maturity, generative AI risks undermining their effectiveness by facilitating new ways of circumventing age estimation.
Project DefAI, a joint UK-Swiss project funded by InnovateUK and Innosuisse, seeks to develop and test new tools to detect and defend against gen-AI facilitated adversarial attacks.
At TrustCon 2024, Illuminate Tech CEO George Billinge asked “Does AI pose an existential threat to age assurance?:”
Partner with us
If you’re looking for a team with deep expertise in the technologies shaping the future of online experiences. With a commitment to upholding fundamental rights, including the rights of the child. Who have worked at the heart of digital regulation, and understand how to deliver results with real-world applicability.