Hadi Asghari, Dr.
Hadi Asghari is an associated researcher in the Societal Values, Transformation and AI research focus. His research focuses on safeguarding public values in AI systems.
Hadi employs a mix of empirical, computational, and design methods to make sense of the digital ecosystem, and subsequently to propose technical and institutional mechanisms to better safeguard values. Example values include privacy, access, freedom, and transparency. Hadi has published on a number of these topics, including a series of studies on the impact of privacy laws worldwide.
Hadi collaborates closely with researchers and experts from various disciplines and backgrounds, including civil society, industry, and government. He is a member of the AI & Society Lab (at HIIG), the Access Request Advocacy & Research Network (at VU Brussels), and the Open Tech Fund advisory council, among others.
Previously, Hadi worked at TU Delft, where he also received his PhD degree on the topic of “Analyzing Security Metrics for Public Policy”. In 2016, he was a visiting researcher at Princeton University’s Center for IT Policy. Prior to his research career, he worked as a software engineer and entrepreneur in Tehran.
AI · Society & culturePublic Interest AI
The “Public Interest AI” research group is developing an operationalisable analysis procedure that will allow Public Interest to be defined in an AI-specific way...
Journal articles and conference proceedings (9)
Hewett, F., Asghari, H., Stede, M. (2024). Elaborative Simplification for German-Language Texts. Proceedings of the 25th Annual Meeting of the Special Interest Group on Discourse and Dialogue, 29-39. Publication details
Züger, T. & Asghari, H. (2024). Introduction to the special issue on AI systems for the public interest. Internet Policy Review, 13(3). DOI: 10.14763/ 2024.3.1802 Publication details
Asghari., H., Hewett, F., & Züger, T. (2023). On the Prevalence of Leichte Sprache on the German Web. ACM WebSci ’23 Conference Proceedings, 147-152. DOI: 10.1145/3578503.3583599 Publication details
Zuiderveen Borgesius, F., Asghari, H., Bangma, N., & Hoepman, J. (2023). The GDPR’s Rules on Data Breaches: Analysing Their Rationales and Effects. SCRIPTed, 20(2), 352-382. DOI: 10.2218/scrip.20.2.2023.8979 Publication details
Asghari, H., Stolberg-Larsen, J., & Züger, T. (2022). Approximating Accessibility of Regions from Incomplete Volunteered Data. CHI EA '22: Extended Abstracts of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1-6. DOI: 10.1145/3491101.3519706 Publication details
Züger, T., & Asghari, H. (2022). AI for the public. How public interest theory shifts the discourse on AI. AI & Society. DOI: 10.1007/s00146-022-01480-5 Publication details
Asghari, H. & Hewett, F. (2022). HIIG at GermEval 2022: Best of Both Worlds Ensemble for Automatic Text Complexity Assessment. Proceedings of the GermEval 2022 Workshop on Text Complexity Assessment of German Text, 15–20. Publication details
Asghari, H., van Biemen, Thomas, & Warnier, Martijn (2021). Amplifying Privacy: Scaling Up Transparency Research Through Delegated Access Requests. 5th Workshop on Technology and Consumer Protection (ConPro ’21). Publication details
Mahieu, R., Asghari, H., Parsons, C., van Hoboken, J., Crete-Nishihata, M., Hilts, A., & Anstis, S. (2021). Measuring the Brussels Effect through Access Requests: Has the European General Data Protection Regulation Influenced the Data Protection Rights of Canadian Citizens? Journal of Information Policy, 11, 301-349. DOI: 10.5325/jinfopoli.11.2021.0301 Publication details
Edited works (2)
Ashgari, H. & Züger, T. (Eds.) (2025). Proceedings of the 2nd Workshop on Public Interest AI. Würzburg, Germany: CEUR-Workshop Proceedings. Publication details
Züger, T. & Asghari, H. (Eds.). (2024). AI systems for the public interest [Special issue]. Internet Policy Review, 13(3). DOI: 10.14763/2024.3.1802 Publication details
Book contributions and chapters (1)
Asghari, H. & Züger, T. (2024). Es gibt keinen Algorithmus gegen Hass – Hate Speech Detection: Über die Chancen und Grenzen der Automatisierung im Kampf gegen Rassismus und Antisemitismus. In M. Adeoso, E. Berendsen, L. Fischer, & D. Schnabel (Eds.), Code & Vorurteil – Über künstliche Intelligenz, Rassismus und Antisemitismus, Edition Bildungsstätte Anne Frank 4 (pp. 49-60). Berlin, Germany: Verbrecher Verlag. Publication details
Other publications (5)
Züger, T., Asghari, H. & Lübbert, B. (2025). Public Interest AI Projects 2024, Dataset. Publication details
Hewett, F. & Asghari, H. (2023). Lowering the barriers: Accessible language and “Leichte Sprache” on the German Web. Digital society blog. Publication details
Borgesius, F. Z., & Asghari, H. (2023). Data breaches: Does the GDPR help? Digital society blog. Publication details
Asghari, H., Birner, N., Burchardt, A., Dicks, D., Fassbender, J., Feldhus, N., Hewett, F., Hofmann, V., Kettemann, M. C., Schulz, W., Simon, J., Stolberg-Larsen, J., & Züger, T. (2022). What to explain when explaining is difficult. An interdisciplinary primer on XAI and meaningful information in automated decision-making. HIIG Impact Publication Series. Publication details
Lectures and presentations (12)
Workshop Paper @ AIMLAI at ECML/PKDD 2024
Speaker at “UN Global Compact Germany”
AI for the Public Interest
On the Prevalence of Leichte Sprache on the German Web
Eine Bestandsaufnahme des CO2-Fußabdrucks von AI: Was wissen wir und wie können wir ihn verringern?
AI for Sustainability & Sustainable AI
Problems of Technology for Society
Are AI standardization processes inclusive enough to deliver tech that works for everyone?
AI in Society and Economy
Approximating Accessibility of Regions from Incomplete Volunteered Data
Amplifying Privacy: Scaling Up Transparency Research Through Delegated Access Request
KICamp21 Webinar: AI in the public interest: What does this mean and how can we build it?
Panels (1)
Panelist at the “LLMs and the Patterns of Human Language Use” Workshop
Moderation of workshops and panels (2)
Workshop “AI Systems for the Public Interest”
Infrastructures of Autonomy
Organisation of events (5)
23.09.2024. Julius-Maximilians Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany. Co-Organised by: 47th German Conference on AI (KI 2024) (International) Further information
Hadi Asghari, Theresa Züger
AI-systems for the public interestAoIR 2023: AI-systems for the public interest. 18.10.2023. Sonesta Hotel, Philadelphia, USA (International) Further information
Hadi Asghari, Freya Hewett, Judith Faßbender, Theresa Züger
Lunch Talk | The theory of artificial immutability: protecting algorithmic groups under anti-discrimination lawwith attending Vip: Sandra Wachter. 27.06.2023. Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Berlin, Germany (International) Further information
Daniel Pothmann, Sarah Spitz, Hadi Asghari
Hackathon. Entwicklung von KI-ErklärungsmodellenFrom 03.02.2023 to 03.02.2023. Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Berlin, Germany. Co-Organised by: neuland & gestalten (National) Further information
Daniel Pothmann, Sarah Spitz, Hadi Asghari, Sami Nenno, Freya Hewett, Judith Faßbender, Theresa Züger
AI and the Public Interest13.06.2022. Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Berlin, Germany (International) Further information
Hadi Asghari, Sami Nenno, Freya Hewett, Judith Faßbender, Theresa Züger
Nominations (1)
Hadi Asghari, Theresa Züger
Participation as expert (2)
PhD Defense Jury
12. Indo-German Frontiers of Engineering Symposium (INDOGFOE)
Position
Associated Researcher: Societal Values, Transformation and AI
Contact
Societal Values, Transformation and Artificial Intelligence
Topics: AI, Public Interest AI, AI & Data Protection