UM-Flint professor receives $560K grant to improve online safety through technology

Flint, MI — University of Michigan-Flint professor Douglas Zytko recently received a $567,968 grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop technology promoting safe online interactions.

Zytko wants to create “consent technology,” used to mitigate sexual harm that could occur during face-to-face interactions between those who previously met online. 

“In a lot of cases, sexual violence occurs without conscious intent to cause harm where the perpetrator after the act doesn’t even realize that they’ve done something wrong,” Zytko told Flint Beat. 

“We have people misinterpreting highly unreliable signals as evidence that their partner is agreeing to sex, and a lot of these signals are being received online before two people ever meet face to face where the sexual harm actually occurs.” 

The $567,968 grant would help protect young people and other vulnerable populations that can be exploited on social media and other online platforms.

Zytko has considered utilizing VR (Virtual Reality) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) to reduce the potential for misinterpretation and produce a visual guide between two people.

“While they’re interacting, maybe one person on that date starts talking about a sexually explicit topic, and the other person does not consent to that,” Zytko said. 

“The AI companion can autonomously sense that through biometric signals and communicate to the partner through their augmented reality glasses that their partner does not give consent to continuing discussions about that particular topic.”

The NSF’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program supports this research opportunity and grant, which finances early-career faculty with the potential to become leaders and innovators in education and research.

Congressman Dan Kildee lent his support for the grant on June 17, 2024,