Honda Teams with Boston University on AI Security Tech

Honda Motor Co. has launched a joint program with researchers from Boston University to develop data privacy controls for artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

The partners aim to create data security technologies that allow users to control what personal data can and can’t be shared with third-party groups. Honda notes that current personalized services often share user data without the consumer’s knowledge and control.

The carmaker is working on several interactive AI technologies that require collecting and analyzing information about users. Development programs include systems that promise to empathize and share experiences with people, while helping them expand their capabilities.

Initially, Honda will work with Boston University’s Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering to develop data privacy control using a technology called secure multi-party computation. The program will be led by Azer Bestavros, a professor of computer science department at Boston University and founding director of the Hariri Institute, and Bernhard Sendhoff, head of global operations for the Honda Research Institute.