{"692643":{"#nid":"692643","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Internship Highlights Industry\u2019s Role in Advancing Safe, Trustworthy AI","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAcademic researchers often focus on advancing fundamental knowledge, while industry puts that knowledge into practice. This summer, Ph.D. student\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/mphute.github.io\/\u0022\u003EMansi Phute\u003C\/a\u003E experienced both sides of the process during an internship focused on making artificial intelligence (AI) safe, trustworthy, and reliable.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUpon returning to Georgia Tech, Phute reflected on her summer internship and what it taught her about the evolving relationship between research and industry.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch Interests:\u003C\/strong\u003E Machine learning (ML) robustness and artificial intelligence (AI) safety\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDegree Program:\u003C\/strong\u003E Ph.D. in Computer Science\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFaculty Advisor\u003C\/strong\u003E: School of CSE Professor and Associate Chair\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/poloclub.github.io\/polochau\/\u0022\u003EPolo Chau\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E2026 Internship\u003C\/strong\u003E: International Business Machines (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/us-en\u0022\u003EIBM\u003C\/a\u003E), San Jose, California\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat about IBM interested you in applying for and accepting an internship there?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EIBM is often at the forefront of AI safety, my field of interest, and has a culture that encourages exploratory and fundamental research. I felt this would give me a closer look at cutting-edge industry approaches without compromising on my research interests or my progress toward my thesis.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow well did your coursework and experience at Georgia Tech prepare you for your IBM internship?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EMy experience at Georgia Tech was very helpful in preparing me for IBM. My coursework and other academic experiences certainly transferred over, but I believe that the wide range of people I met during those courses and what I learned from them helped me connect and relate strongly with people at IBM. Being conversant in different fields of research really helped me interact better with IBM coworkers and feel comfortable in a new environment.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat did you work on while interning at IBM?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EI worked on IBM\u2019s AI Foundations team, focusing on the security of multimodal agent communication during my internship. This is an important problem as we see an increase in agents applied in many use cases. It was also closely aligned with my research interests of AI safety.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDo you have a favorite memory or remarkable achievement from your internship?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EOne of my favorite moments was presenting my work to a broad, cross-team audience of technical and non-technical members. Afterward, my manager told me I was good at explaining my research to people with varying levels of familiarity with the domain. This feedback meant a lot to me because communicating clearly across different audiences is a skill I\u0027ve deliberately worked to improve. So, hearing that the effort was paying off was very rewarding.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOverall, how helpful was this internship toward your studies at Georgia Tech and your career as an aspiring researcher?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EThis internship was very valuable for my development as an aspiring researcher. I worked alongside accomplished people in the AI safety field on projects that aligned closely with my research interests. I also saw how those same projects connect to a company\u0027s broader business priorities, a perspective that isn\u2019t easily available in academic settings. I shared many fruitful discussions with people working in safety, policy, and alignment, which gave me a much clearer sense of how industry approaches these issues compared to the more academic-oriented framing I am used to.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBased on what you learned during your internship, how important is private industry in progressing research and scientific discovery?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EWorking in private industry was a fascinating experience. I come away believing that industry plays an important role in advancing research, especially in AI, where companies have access to computing resources that are less prohibitive than in academic environments. I also think that because private industry has a strong hand in implementing and deploying research,\u0026nbsp;understanding industry priorities can help us frame and design our research in ways that complement industry applications. This ensures research has a bigger impact, particularly in the domain of ML safety and reliability.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAcademic researchers often focus on advancing fundamental knowledge, while industry puts that knowledge into practice. This summer, Ph.D. student\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/mphute.github.io\/\u0022\u003EMansi Phute\u003C\/a\u003E experienced both sides of the process during an internship focused on making artificial intelligence (AI) safe, trustworthy, and reliable.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUpon returning to Georgia Tech, Phute reflected on her summer internship and what it taught her about the evolving relationship between research and industry.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Ph.D. student Mansi Phute spent this summer at an internship focused on making artificial intelligence (AI) safe, trustworthy, and reliable."}],"uid":"36319","created_gmt":"2026-09-17 15:48:44","changed_gmt":"2026-09-18 12:59:34","author":"Bryant Wine","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-09-17T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-09-17T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"681184":{"id":"681184","type":"image","title":"MP-Head-Image.jpg","body":null,"created":"1789660134","gmt_created":"2026-09-17 15:48:54","changed":"1789660134","gmt_changed":"2026-09-17 15:48:54","alt":"CSE Mansi Phute","file":{"fid":"265549","name":"MP-Head-Image.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/09\/17\/MP-Head-Image.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/09\/17\/MP-Head-Image.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":139529,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/09\/17\/MP-Head-Image.jpg?itok=ip-e5Jk6"}},"681185":{"id":"681185","type":"image","title":"MP-IBM-Internship.jpg","body":null,"created":"1789660171","gmt_created":"2026-09-17 15:49:31","changed":"1789660171","gmt_changed":"2026-09-17 15:49:31","alt":"CSE Mansi Phute","file":{"fid":"265550","name":"MP-IBM-Internship.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/09\/17\/MP-IBM-Internship.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/09\/17\/MP-IBM-Internship.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":208527,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/09\/17\/MP-IBM-Internship.jpg?itok=IniBDOHb"}}},"media_ids":["681184","681185"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"50877","name":"School of Computational Science and Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"194606","name":"Artificial Intelligence"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"194609","name":"Industry"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"},{"id":"194612","name":"Workforce Development"}],"keywords":[{"id":"654","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"166983","name":"School of Computational Science and Engineering"},{"id":"9153","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"170447","name":"Institute for Data Engineering and Science"},{"id":"192863","name":"go-ai"},{"id":"194384","name":"Tech AI"},{"id":"187812","name":"artificial intelligence (AI)"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"},{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBryant Wine, Communications Officer\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:bryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ebryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}