{"689926":{"#nid":"689926","#data":{"type":"event","title":"PhD Proposal by Yanzhe Zhang","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETitle:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003EBuilding and Stress-Testing Robust AI Agent Systems for Real-World Deployment\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDate:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003ETuesday, May 5th, 2026\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETime:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E13:00 - 14:30 PM EDT\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELocation:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;Online\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EZoom:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgatech.zoom.us%2Fj%2F5256702657%3Fpwd%3DbWyj8saWbSVdLlrhb7PEHJYlZ5bTO5.1\u0026amp;data=05%7C02%7Ctm186%40gtvault.onmicrosoft.com%7Ca89aa66d1ea64c93ed3f08de9f187a57%7C482198bbae7b4b258b7a6d7f32faa083%7C1%7C0%7C639123124661892267%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C\u0026amp;sdata=EP5Wf34v9i4uE2wPRWdnss5dYyh8t7GgpekYTYyDMr0%3D\u0026amp;reserved=0\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/gatech.zoom.us\/j\/5256702657?pwd=bWyj8saWbSVdLlrhb7PEHJYlZ5bTO5.1\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYanzhe Zhang\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EPh.D. Student in Computer Science\u003Cbr\u003ESchool of Interactive Computing\u003Cbr\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstevenyzzhang.github.io%2Fwebsite%2F\u0026amp;data=05%7C02%7Ctm186%40gtvault.onmicrosoft.com%7Ca89aa66d1ea64c93ed3f08de9f187a57%7C482198bbae7b4b258b7a6d7f32faa083%7C1%7C0%7C639123124661918969%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C\u0026amp;sdata=BEsaoAJiGWveqjJwATntgZ6FoL4B4JSGZvTH0g6TkWk%3D\u0026amp;reserved=0\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/stevenyzzhang.github.io\/website\/\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECommittee members\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EDr. Diyi Yang (advisor) - Computer Science Department, Stanford University\u003Cbr\u003EDr. Zsolt Kira (co-advisor) - School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr\u003EDr. Kartik Goyal - School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr\u003EDr. Polo Chau - School of Computational Science \u0026amp; Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbstract\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ELarge language models (LLMs) are rapidly evolving from passive text generators into autonomous, multimodal agents that can perceive, reason, and act in the real world. This transformation unlocks new capabilities, while also reshaping human\u2013AI interaction and introducing novel safety risks. In this thesis proposal, I present my research on building and stress-testing robust AI agent systems. First, I introduce methods for constructing and evaluating agent systems that enable new capabilities, including automatically generating websites from visual designs and generative interfaces that structure user interaction with AI systems. Second, I examine emerging risks in these agents, showing that computer-use agents are vulnerable to pop-up attacks and that large-scale simulation can systematically uncover privacy risks. Finally, I propose a framework for studying the fundamental reliability challenges underlying these failures, with the goal of understanding and improving robustness in real-world deployments.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBuilding and Stress-Testing Robust AI Agent Systems for Real-World Deployment\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Building and Stress-Testing Robust AI Agent Systems for Real-World Deployment"}],"uid":"27707","created_gmt":"2026-04-21 17:27:21","changed_gmt":"2026-04-21 17:27:50","author":"Tatianna Richardson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2026-05-05T13:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2026-05-05T14:30:41-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2026-05-05T14:30:41-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2026-05-05 17:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2026-05-05 18:30:41","gmt_time_end_last":"2026-05-05 18:30:41","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"location":"ZOOM","extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"221981","name":"Graduate Studies"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"102851","name":"Phd proposal"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1788","name":"Other\/Miscellaneous"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78771","name":"Public"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}