OLX Group

OLX Responsible AI Principles

1.INTRODUCTION AND SCOPE

OLX is a global leader in facilitating trade on marketplace enterprises in the classifieds sector with a concentrated focus on high-growth regions across Europe and South Africa. We take great pride in advocating for second-hand goods as the preferred option within our markets, promoting sustainability, minimizing waste, and contributing to a more environmentally-friendly future for everyone.

OLX is continuously advancing its platforms through the integration of cutting-edge technology. We have fundamentally transformed our business through AI; today, AI is the beating heart of OLX. It plays a vital role in improving user experience, ensuring platform safety, increasing efficiency and revenue, as well as reducing operational costs. We are substantially leveraging machine learning and generative AI to redefine the customer journey by implementing AI solutions intended to tackle complex problems throughout our operations, leading to concrete improvements in both how we operate and what our customers experience.

 

2. OBJECTIVES

These guidelines set out the approach to responsible AI deployment across OLX. It applies to OLX Global B.V. and its subsidiaries (collectively “OLX”, “We”, “Us”). 

The objective of these guidelines is to ensure that ethical considerations are an integral part of the AI initiatives and development across OLX as this is essential to preserve the quality, longevity, and performance of our platforms, enhance user experience, and uphold public trust.

 

3. RESPONSIBLE AI GUIDING PRINCIPLES

We understand that creating cutting-edge, ethical and responsible AI is a continuous journey. That’s why we’re dedicated to building robust capabilities in this field. Below are the guiding principles we follow to drive this ongoing effort:

  1. Positive impact. At our company, we strive to ensure that our AI applications make a positive impact on people’s daily lives. Our vision is to create a business that empowers individuals and strengthens communities worldwide. By doing so, we aim to provide direct benefits to our customers, our company, and our stakeholders, while also contributing to the greater good of society.
  2. Technical excellence and innovation. We are committed to creating innovative solutions with the highest scientific and technical standards. We aim to match global best practices in research, design and application of our AI products.
  3. Fairness and inclusivity. We’re committed to ensuring fairness and inclusivity in everything we do. We work hard to prevent unfair biases and to avoid making existing biases worse. These values are central to how we develop and implement our AI systems, ensuring that everyone is treated fairly and equally.
  4. Transparency. Designers of AI systems must continuously document how they apply these key principles, ensuring they monitor and control system performance over time. It’s important that AI systems and their outputs are understandable, transparent, and can be explained to different stakeholders in relevant situations. Whenever possible, we provide clear, non-technical information about how AI is used to build trust among individuals and businesses.
  5. Privacy & security. Data used to train and deploy AI systems must be proportionate, handled in conformity with applicable data protection laws. We make sure that the AI we develop, use and deploy are designed in a way that minimises known security threats, through appropriate technical and organisational measures.

 

4. RESPONSIBLE AI GOVERNANCE OPERATING FRAMEWORK

Our responsible AI operating framework aims to ensure that social and ethical dimensions of AI are integrally included within the product or feature development process, organised around four key pillars that directly apply: 

  • Govern: Our businesses are expected to specify and announce the governance principles applicable to their own development and deployment of fair and responsible AI in a manner that is reasonably accessible by their users, clients, partners and the public. This might include, for example, publishing guidelines compatible with the standards contained in this OLX Responsible AI Principles on their own websites. Such disclosure should always be adapted to reflect the priorities and focus of the individual companies and should be developed in line with appropriate transparency benchmarks, including these principles.
    Should businesses operate in jurisdictions where specific AI laws apply, including but not limited to the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AI Act), they must ensure that the requirements of such laws are met.
  • Design: Our businesses are expected to appropriately design for privacy, security, transparency, bias controls, and robustness as an integral part of development and deployment of AI systems and models. This pillar includes pursuing efforts aimed at introducing more explainable and robust models.
  • Monitor: Businesses are to implement appropriate processes aimed at auditing for accountability, bias and risks implicated by specific AI models. This can be enabled through adopting tools for bias check as part of model-development practices. Proactive cooperation to monitor across disciplines also helps to preempt AI-related risks, analyse the likelihood of harm and to appropriately mitigate for such risks.
  • Train: All our businesses should aim to increase AI literacy, by creating and implementing appropriate AI training programmes. In this context, all employees of OLX companies are expected to become well-acquainted with company AI tools and to actively use them as aids in the execution of their work, to drive greater scale, efficiency and quality of outputs.

 

If you have any questions or concerns about these principles, feel free to reach out to us at dpo@olx.com