Topic: Hiding a Swarm's Leader from RL Agent and Human AI Safety in the Information and Physical Spaces
Speaker:
Prof. Michael Lewis, School of Computing and Information, Department of Informatics and Networked Systems, University of Pittsburgh
Prof. Katia Sycara, Edward Fredkin Research Professor of Robotics, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
Time : May12, 2026 (Tuesday), 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Venue: The Management Building, 11F, AI Lecture Hall
Join Online: https://reurl.cc/xW6OmZ or scan QR code on poster
About the Speaker:
Michael Lewis is a Professor at the School of Computing and Information at the University of Pittsburgh. Trained in engineering psychology, his research focuses on human-computer interaction, human-agent teaming, and swarm robotics. He investigates how humans interact with complex autonomous systems, with particular emphasis on trust, decision-making, and coordination in multi-agent environments.His work integrates artificial intelligence, visualization, and human factors to improve the effectiveness of human–AI collaboration. Professor Lewis has led and contributed to numerous research projects supported by agencies such as DARPA, NSF, and other U.S. government organizations. He has published extensively in leading journals and conferences in human-machine systems, robotics, and AI.
Katia Sycara is the Edward Fredkin Research
Professor in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University and a
Research Professor at the Robotics Institute. She is a leading expert in
artificial intelligence, multi-agent systems, and human-agent collaboration.Her
research spans AI autonomy, distributed intelligent systems, and trust in
human-AI interaction, with applications in robotics, defense, and large-scale
information systems. She has been a pioneer in agent-based systems and has made
significant contributions to semantic web technologies and collaborative
AI.Professor Sycara has received numerous honors, including recognition as a
Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. She has also served in
key advisory roles for government and international research initiatives, and
her work has had a lasting impact on the development of intelligent,
cooperative systems.
Abstract:
Hiding a Swarm's Leader from RL Agent and Human
This talk explores methods for protecting leadership within robotic swarms, where leader-based control improves coordination but introduces vulnerability. Using graph neural networks (GNNs), swarms can be trained to follow a leader, while adversarial models attempt to identify it. Results show that although AI models outperform humans in identifying leaders under normal conditions, humans become more effective when swarms adopt deception strategies to hide leaders. Even with adaptive adversaries and increased visual complexity, human observers demonstrate robust performance. These findings highlight key differences between human perception and AI in complex multi-agent environments
AI Safety in the Information and Physical
Spaces
In this talk, we will present our work on vulnerabilities of Foundational Multi-Modal Models. In particular, we will present jailbreaking of Frontier Models via intention deception and conditions that make multi modal models more vulnerable to adversarial attacks in disclosing dangerous information. We will also propose safety mitigations. Additionally, we will introduce contextual safety and its challenges in the physical world.
Organizers: College of Intelligent Computing & Artificial Intelligence Research
Center
※ No registration needed.