Matthew Stamm and Edward Kim
Two Drexel researchers are among the first cohort the U.S. National Science Foundation has chosen for a national research pilot program to devise safe, secure and trustworthy artificial intelligence programs.
In a White House ceremony organized by the Biden Administration in May 2024, the Office of Science and Technology Policy commended Drexel’s effort to use brain-inspired machine learning algorithms to improve transparency and oversight of large language models such as ChatGPT.
The NSF and the U.S. Department of Energy are funding AI research with five goals: testing and validating systems, improving accuracy and reliability, increasing privacy and interpretability of learned models, reducing vulnerability to attacks, and advancing models that align with societal values and safety concerns.
Drexel’s project will be led by Edward Kim, an associate professor in the College of Computing & Informatics, and Matthew Stamm, an associate professor in the College of Engineering.
They will employ machine learning algorithms modeled after the brain’s neural pathways to ensure that large language model programs produce accurate, unbiased responses moderated by their own internal behavioral control centers, much as a human’s prefrontal cortex dictates how to behave in socially acceptable ways.
Kim’s research focuses on the ethical design of AI and machine learning technology, including raising awareness of implicit bias in the algorithms that drive it. The Spiking and Recurrent Software Coding Lab he leads studies a type of AI modeled after the mammalian brain.
Stamm’s Multimedia and Information Security Lab develops technologies to detect multimedia forgeries such as “deepfakes” and AI-generated images and videos. He uses constrained neural network machine learning programs to sift out the digital fingerprints of varied types of digital manipulation and the hallmarks of synthetic media.
“Being included in the federal government’s first efforts to develop guardrail systems for AI technology is a significant recognition of Drexel’s field-leading research and substantial faculty expertise in this area,” says Aleister Saunders, Drexel’s executive vice provost for Research & Innovation. “As this technology reshapes how we live, learn and interact, researchers will play a pivotal role in helping to ensure that AI is being used to society’s benefit, rather than its detriment.”