GECAD researcher José Almeida, from the Polytechnic of Porto, participated in ECML PKDD 2026, held from 7 to 11 September in Naples, Italy.
During the conference, José presented the paper “Can Small Language Models Fairly Allocate Energy Community Benefits? A Benchmark with Explainability Analysis” at the SSLM: Specific and Small Language Models for Sustainable Intelligence workshop.
The work investigates the use of small, locally deployable language models as decision-support tools for distributing the economic benefits generated by local energy communities. The proposed benchmark evaluates whether these models can produce valid allocations, respect the available benefit, reflect different fairness criteria, and provide explanations consistent with their verified outcomes.
This participation reinforces GECAD’s international presence and its contribution to research at the intersection of artificial intelligence and energy systems. It also highlights the group’s commitment to developing responsible and explainable AI approaches that support fair decision-making, local energy management, and the transition towards more sustainable and citizen-centered energy systems.









