Toms river researcher makes breakthrough in ai security testing

UNION, NJ — Brendan Hannon, a recent graduate of Kean University, has developed a groundbreaking method to test the vulnerabilities of artificial intelligence, particularly in preventing misuse.

The Toms River native focused on ethical hacking during his time in the computer science program, assessing AI language models, including ChatGPT, for their resilience against unethical manipulations like credit card scams and stalking.

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Hannon emphasized the importance of safeguarding AI technologies from harmful applications, given their broad accessibility. His research involved “jailbreaking” these models, which entails challenging their security measures with various prompts to see if they could be tricked into harmful outputs. This testing method, named the HYP prompt by Hannon, successfully exposed potential weaknesses by coaxing the models into responding with detailed descriptions of unethical scenarios.

Hannon’s findings indicated that while models like ChatGPT were repeatedly jailbroken due to their less restrictive filters, these same characteristics could make them more adaptable and dynamic. He warned that this versatility also heightens the risk of misuse. His research, which has led to the authorship of six papers with a seventh pending, was showcased at the 2023 World Congress in Computer Science, Computer Engineering & Applied Computing (CSCE) and has been published in the journal Electronics.

Patricia Morreale, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Kean, highlighted the university’s commitment to providing research opportunities to students, enhancing their academic and professional development. Hannon’s faculty mentor, Lecturer Yulia Kumar, praised his capabilities and independence, likening his drive to that of a “self-driving car” on a predetermined path.

Hannon credits his achievements to the transformative guidance of his mentor and the supportive environment at Kean, which helped him overcome personal setbacks and reignite his passion for computer science and innovation. Beyond academia, Hannon has applied his skills at Jersey State Controls and is developing an AI-assisted culinary app called Chef Dalle. Kumar remains optimistic about his future, confident in his preparedness for the evolving tech landscape.

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