Team Atlanta, a group of Georgia Tech students, faculty, and alumni, achieved international fame on Friday when they won DARPA’s AI Cyber Challenge (AIxCC) and its $4 million grand prize.

AIxCC was a two-year long competition to create an artificial intelligence (AI) enabled cyber reasoning system capable of autonomously finding and patching vulnerabilities.

“This is a once in a generation competition organized by DARPA about how to utilize recent advancements in AI to use in security related tasks,” said Georgia Tech Professor Taesoo Kim.

“As hackers we started this competition as AI skeptics, but now we truly believe in the potential of adopting large language models (LLM) when solving security problems."

The Atlantis system was Team Atlanta’s submission. Atlantis is a fuzzer- or an automated software that finds vulnerabilities or bugs- and enhanced it with several different types of LLMs.

While developing the system, Team Atlanta reported the heat put out by the GPU rack was hot enough to roast marshmallows.

The team was comprised of hackers, engineers, and cybersecurity researchers. The Georgia Tech alumni on the team also represented their employers which include KAIST, POSTECH, and Samsung Research. Kim is also the vice president of Samsung Research. 

In June, the Strategic Energy Institute (SEI) hosted the Energy and National Security Summer Cohort Meeting that convened seed grant awardees from the Energy and National Security Initiative. A partnership between SEI and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), the initiative provides research support through a seed grant program that launched last summer.

“As national security needs rapidly evolve, Georgia Tech is leveraging its research ecosystem and seed funding programs to accelerate the development of transformational technologies and strategies that strengthen national resilience,” said Christine Conwell, interim executive director of SEI. “We designed this seed grant program to tackle pressing national security priorities of today, such as threats to the grid, nuclear security, supply chain resilience, and renewable integration.”

The event began with an introduction from John Tien, SEI distinguished external fellow, professor of the practice, and former deputy secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, who addressed the evolving and multifaceted challenges facing energy, national security, and policy today. Tien’s talk emphasized the importance of early, strategic research investments in driving sustainable progress and long-term solutions. 

The seed grant awardees then presented the initial progress of their research projects through lightning talks and a Q&A session. The research projects included:

• Energy Infrastructure Security and Risk Assessment Through Interactive Wargaming.
• Evaluating Energy Storage Materials, Supplies, and Systems in the Context of National Security Requirements.
• Nanostructured Sensors for Monitoring of Nuclear Fuel Cycle.
• Resilient Critical Infrastructures via Provable Secure Control Algorithms.
• Robust Energy Systems Planning by Way of Novel Systems Engineering (RESPoNSE).
• SPARC: Severe-Weather Predictive Analytics and Resilient Communication.
• The Strategic Mineral Economy: Challenges and Opportunities for Critical Resources.

“That critical intersection between energy and national security is where both risk and opportunity lie. To mitigate those risks and take advantage of the opportunities, our project teams have developed research topic areas that align with the U.S. Department of Energy's nine pillars for American energy dominance and security, as well as ongoing U.S. Department of Defense priorities,” said Tien.

The meeting showcased Georgia Tech’s collaborative and forward-looking research at the intersection of energy and national security, aimed at shaping a more secure and resilient energy future. 

Written by: Katie Strickland & Priya Devarajan

Men and women in California put their lives on the line when battling wildfires every year, but there is a future where machines powered by artificial intelligence are on the front lines, not firefighters.

However, this new generation of self-thinking robots would need security protocols to ensure they aren’t susceptible to hackers. To integrate such robots into society, they must come with assurances that they will behave safely around humans.

It begs the question: can you guarantee the safety of something that doesn’t exist yet? It’s something Assistant Professor Glen Chou hopes to accomplish by developing algorithms that will enable autonomous systems to learn and adapt while acting with safety and security assurances. 

He plans to launch research initiatives, in collaboration with the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy and the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, to secure this new technological frontier as it develops. 

“To operate in uncertain real-world environments, robots and other autonomous systems need to leverage and adapt a complex network of perception and control algorithms to turn sensor data into actions,” he said. “To obtain realistic assurances, we must do a joint safety and security analysis on these sensors and algorithms simultaneously, rather than one at a time.”

This end-to-end method would proactively look for flaws in the robot’s systems rather than wait for them to be exploited. This would lead to intrinsically robust robotic systems that can recover from failures.

Chou said this research will be useful in other domains, including advanced space exploration. If a space rover is sent to one of Saturn’s moons, for example, it needs to be able to act and think independently of scientists on Earth. 

Aside from fighting fires and exploring space, this technology could perform maintenance in nuclear reactors, automatically maintain the power grid, and make autonomous surgery safer. It could also bring assistive robots into the home, enabling higher standards of care. 

This is a challenging domain where safety, security, and privacy concerns are paramount due to frequent, close contact with humans.

This will start in the newly established Trustworthy Robotics Lab at Georgia Tech, which Chou directs. He and his Ph.D. students will design principled algorithms that enable general-purpose robots and autonomous systems to operate capably, safely, and securely with humans while remaining resilient to real-world failures and uncertainty.

Chou earned dual bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and computer sciences as well as mechanical engineering from University of California Berkeley in 2017, a master’s and Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Michigan in 2019 and 2022, respectively. He was a postdoc at MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory prior to joining Georgia Tech in November 2024. He is a recipient of the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate fellowship program, NSF Graduate Research fellowships, and was named a Robotics: Science and Systems Pioneer in 2022.

John (JP) Popham 
Communications Officer II 
College of Computing | School of Cybersecurity and Privacy

When U.S. Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter from Georgia’s 1st District visited Atlanta recently, one of his top priorities was meeting with the experts at Georgia Tech’s 20,000-square-foot Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF).

Carter was recently named the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s chair of the Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials Subcommittee, a group that concerns itself primarily with contamination of soil, air, noise, and water, as well as emergency environmental response, whether physical or cybersecurity.

Because AMPF’s focus dovetails with subcommittee interests, the facility was a fitting stop for Carter, who was welcomed for an afternoon tour and series of live demonstrations. Programs within Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute — specifically the Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM) and Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) — were well represented.

“Innovation is extremely important,” Carter said during his April 1 visit. “In order to handle some of our problems, we’ve got to have adaptation, mitigation, and innovation. I’ve always said that the greatest innovators, the greatest scientists in the world, are right here in the United States. I’m so proud of Georgia Tech and what they do for our state and for our nation.”

Carter’s AMPF visit began with an introduction by Thomas Kurfess, Regents' Professor and HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute; Steven Ferguson, principal research scientist and managing director at Georgia AIM; research engineer Kyle Saleeby; and Donna Ennis, the Enterprise Innovation Institute’s director of community engagement and program development, and co-director of Georgia AIM.

Ennis provided an overview of Georgia AIM, while Ferguson spoke on the Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium and Kurfess detailed the AMPF origin story, before introducing four live demonstrations.

The first of these featured Chuck Easley, Professor of the Practice in the Scheller College of Business, who elaborated on supply chain issues. Afterward, Alan Burl of EPICS: Enhanced Preparation for Intelligent Cybermanufacturing Systems and mechanical engineer Melissa Foley led a brief information session on hybrid turbine blade repair.

Finally, GaMEP project manager Michael Barker expounded on GaMEP’s cybersecurity services, and Deryk Stoops of Central Georgia Technical College detailed the Georgia AIM-sponsored AI robotics training program at the Georgia Veterans Education Career Transition Resource (VECTR) Center, which offers training and assistance to those making the transition from military to civilian life.

The topic of artificial intelligence, in all its subtlety and nuance, was of particular interest to Carter.

“AI is the buzz in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “Whether it be healthcare, energy, [or] science, we on the Energy and Commerce Committee look at it from a sense [that there’s] a very delicate balance, and we understand the responsibility. But we want to try to benefit from this as much as we can.”

“I heard something today I haven’t heard before," Carter continued, "and that is instead of calling it artificial intelligence, we refer to it as ‘augmented intelligence.’ I think that’s a great term, and certainly something I’m going to take back to Washington with me.”

“It was a pleasure to host Rep. Carter for a firsthand look at AMPF," shared Ennis, "which is uniquely positioned to offer businesses the opportunity to collaborate with Georgia Tech researchers and students and to hear about Georgia AIM.

“At Georgia AIM, we’re committed to making the state a leader in artificial intelligence-assisted manufacturing, and we’re grateful for Congressman Carter’s interest and support of our efforts."

The University of Waterloo and the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, representing Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), have officially entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen academic and research ties between the two institutions. The MOU signifies a commitment to fostering collaborative initiatives in research, education, and other areas of mutual interest. Both universities, recognized for their global impact and innovation, are eager to embark on this journey of cooperation.

Charmaine Dean, Vice-President of Research & International, shared, “The University of Waterloo is pleased to embark on a new collaboration with Georgia Tech, featuring faculty and student exchanges, joint research projects, dual degrees, and conferences. Strengthening ties between our institutions through this collaboration creates a dynamic environment for our faculty and students to foster innovation in many areas of mutual excellence.”

“Georgia Tech is excited to see its NSF AI Institute for Advances in Optimization (AI4OPT), under the leadership of Prof. Pascal Van Hentenryck, partner with experts from the Waterloo Artificial Intelligence Institute of the University of Waterloo. I am really looking forward to the impact that this partnership will have in advancing the fundamental knowledge of AI, in further expanding its applications, and in enabling its wider adoption,” noted Prof. Bernard Kippelen, Vice Provost for International Initiatives at Georgia Tech.

This collaboration is poised to elevate the academic and research landscape of both institutions, promoting global engagement and creating opportunities for students and faculty to thrive in an interconnected world.

In 1950, Alan Turing asked, “Can machines think?” More than 70 years later, advancements in artificial intelligence are creating exciting possibilities and questions about its potential pitfalls.  

A recent executive order issued by President Joe Biden seeks to establish "new standards for AI safety and security" while addressing consumer privacy concerns and promoting innovation. Georgia Tech experts have examined the key elements of the order and offer their thoughts on its scope and what comes next.  

A Precautionary Tale 

The order calls for the development of standards, tools, and tests to ensure the safe use of AI. From voice scams and phishing campaigns to larger-scale threats, the technology’s potential dangers have been widely documented. But Margaret Kosal, associate professor in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, says that additional context is often needed to dispel hysteria. 

"No one is going to be hooking up AI to launch nuclear weapons, but AI capabilities may enable targeting, or enable the command and control and the decision-making time to be compressed,” she said.  
 
The order will create an AI Safety and Security Board tasked with addressing critical threats. Companies developing foundation models that "pose a serious risk to national security, national economic security, or national public health and safety” will be required to notify the federal government when training the model and required to share the results of all red-team safety tests — a simulated cyberattack to test a system's defenses.  

Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, a CNBC report details a 1,267% rise in phishing emails. Srijan Kumar, assistant professor in the College of Computing, attributes the increase to the technology's availability and an inability to rein in "bad actors."  

He says these scams will only continue to get more sophisticated and personalized. They “can be created by knowing what you might be willing to fall prey to versus what I might fall prey to,” said Kumar, whose systems have influenced misinformation detection on sites like X (formerly Twitter) and Wikipedia. “AI is not going to autonomously do all of those bad things, but this order can ensure there are consequences for people who misuse it.”  

A Delicate Balance 

Building an AI platform requires large amounts of data regardless of its intended application. Two primary goals of the executive order are protecting privacy and advancing equity.  

To protect personal data, the order tasks Congress with evaluating how agencies collect and use commercially available information and address algorithmic discrimination.  

Acknowledging that everyone should be allowed to have their voice represented in the outputs of AI data sets, Deven Desai, associate professor in the Scheller College of Business, noted, "There are people who don't want to be part of data sets, which is their right, but this means their voices won't be reflected in the outputs.”   

The order also includes sections to address intellectual property concerns among inventors and creators, though legal challenges will likely set new precedents in the years ahead.  

When that time comes, Kosal says that defining “theft” in the context of AI becomes the true challenge and that, ultimately, money will play a significant role. "If you spit out a Harry Potter book and read it yourself, nobody will care. It's when you start selling it to make money, and you don't share proceeds with the original people, then it becomes an issue," she said.   

What Does AI-Generated Mean? 

The order instructs the Department of Commerce to develop guidelines for content authentication and watermarking to label AI-generated content. Desai questions what it means for something to be truly created by AI.  

An important distinction lies between using AI to assist a writer in organizing their thoughts and using the technology to generate content. He likens the trend to the music industry in the 1980s.  

"Synthesizers really changed people's ability to generate music and, for a while, people thought that was horrible. They can just program the music. They're not. I am still the human responsible for that music, or that article in this case, so what is the point of the label?" he asks. 

As AI assistance becomes commonplace in content creation, trusting the source of information is increasingly important. Recently, articles published on Sports Illustrated's website featured AI-generated content provided by a third-party company that had used a machine to write the content and create fake bylines. Sports Illustrated, which may not have known of the problem, ran the material without disclosure to readers. CEO Ross Levinsohn was ousted shortly after the story broke.  

“Perhaps if the third party had disclosed its use of AI software, SI would have been able to assess how much AI was used and then chosen not to run the material, or to run it with a disclaimer that AI helped write the material,” Desai said. "Of course, even if they label the content as AI-generated, a reader still won't know exactly how much of the content came from AI or a human.” 

AI and the Workforce 

As AI systems and models become more sophisticated, workers may become more concerned about being replaced. To counteract these concerns, the order calls for a study to examine AI’s potential impact on labor markets and investments in workforce training efforts.  

Kumar compares the rise of AI to similar technological innovations throughout history and sees it as an opportunity for workers and industries to adapt. "It's less a matter of AI replacing workers and more of reskilling people to use the new technology. It's no different from when assembly lines in the auto industry were created."  

Promoting Innovation and Competition 

The power to harness the full potential of AI has initiated a race to the top. Desai believes that part of the executive order providing resources to smaller developers can help level the playing field.   

"There is a possibility here for markets to open up. Current players using models that weren't built with transparency in mind might struggle, but maybe that's OK." 

The issue of reliability and transparency comes into focus for Desai, especially as it relates to government usage of AI. The order calls on agencies to "acquire specified AI products and services faster, more cheaply, and more effectively through more rapid and efficient contracting."  

When taxpayer dollars are at stake, government can’t afford to trust a technology it doesn’t fully understand — a topic Desai has explored elsewhere. "You can’t just say, ‘We don’t know how it works, but we trust it.’ That’s not going to work. So that’s where there may be a slowdown in the government’s ability to use private sector software if they can’t explain how the thing works and to show that it doesn’t have discriminatory issues.” 

What's Next 

Promoting and policing the safe use of AI cannot be done independently. Georgia Tech experts agree that participation on a global scale is necessary. To that end, the European Union will unveil its comprehensive EU AI Act, which includes a similar framework to the president's executive order.  

Due to the evolving nature of AI, the executive order or the EU's actions will not be all-encompassing. Law often lags behind technology, but Kosal points out that it's crucial to think beyond what currently exists when crafting policy.  

Experts also agree that AI cannot be regulated or governed through a single document and that this order is likely the first in a series of policymaking moves. Kosal sees tremendous opportunity with the innovation surrounding AI but hopes the growing fear of its rise does not usher in another AI winter, in which interest and research funding fade.