Designing a stress test tool for checking AI compliance

A Salford academic is working on a major project to develop stress tools for AI compliance.

Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence Taha Mansouri has received £10k Horizon pump-priming funding to build a network of expertise and later this year will bid for a major multi-million pound grant, again from Horizon.

The goal is to develop credible, policy-aligned methods for testing and explaining general-purpose AI, enabling developers, users and regulators to trust AI as it is used in everyday life.

Taha said: “This Horizon pump priming is the immediate opportunity in front of us, and it opens a credible route to a larger Horizon Europe bid this year.

“We are using the small award to bring the right partners together, pressure-test the idea, and finish a sharp, competitive proposal.

“The research has the potential to be very high impact. AI is everywhere, including in the public sector and Governments, it is starting to be used widely, so controls and safeguards are needed.”

Taha, who is working with the University of Exeter and other industry partners, is aiming at a Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action in the Digital, Industry, and Space cluster, focused on evaluation tools and methods for assessing general-purpose AI.

The timeline comes in two parts. It was highly competitive to get the first stage. First, a nine-week pump-priming phase, which started last month, will be used to build the consortium, prototype methods, and finalize the full application. Then, a 36-month Horizon project that gives experts the space for rigorous research and development, and then communicating results.

The full project would deliver a practical evaluation suite: a trust and fairness dashboard to highlight technical and behavioural data; a scenario-based testing toolkit for high-risk, real-world conditions; and a transparency mapping template to standardise documentation.

Outputs will be open and reusable, with pilots in healthcare, hiring, and public services, and contributions to shared European platforms. We are living in an era where Computer Science is the backbone of innovations across every aspect of our lives, from communication systems to healthcare facilities. As the field continues to evolve, one of the most dynamic areas within the discipline is Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI is no longer science fiction but a reality that is revolutionising industries and changing our everyday life experience. Because of this the University of Salford is launching a brand new course next year. Our BSc (Hons) Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence is a future-focused course that provides a solid foundation in core computer science while equipping you with cutting-edge skills creating industry ready graduates all set to begin careers in AI.