Aeree Cho

Aeree Cho, Grace C. Kim, Alexander Karpekov et al. · gatech, ibm-research

Transformers have revolutionized machine learning, yet their inner workings remain opaque to many. We present Transformer Explainer, an interactive visualization tool designed for non-experts to learn about Transformers through the GPT-2 model. Our tool helps users understand complex Transformer concepts by integrating a model overview and enabling smooth transitions across abstraction levels of mathematical operations and model structures. It runs a live GPT-2 instance locally in the user's browser, empowering users to experiment with their own input and observe in real-time how the internal components and parameters of the Transformer work together to predict the next tokens. Our tool requires no installation or special hardware, broadening the public's education access to modern generative AI techniques. Our open-sourced tool is available at https://poloclub.github.io/transformer-explainer/. A video demo is available at https://youtu.be/ECR4oAwocjs.

Aeree Cho, Alexander D. Greenhalgh, Jonathan Bodea et al.

Reinforcement learning has emerged as a dominant technique for fine-tuning the behavior of large language models, with policy optimization (PO) algorithms such as GRPO, DAPO, and Dr. GRPO emerging in rapid succession to advance state-of-the-art reasoning and alignment performance. However, the modular differences between these algorithms, including targeted improvements to clipping, advantage estimation, and reward aggregation, are introduced across separate papers with inconsistent notation, making them difficult to compare and intimidating to the non-expert community. We present UNIPO, the first interactive visualization tool that exposes the token-level training dynamics of RL fine-tuning algorithms through a unified design. UNIPO connects three complementary views, a high-level training overview, a step-level prompt and response inspector, and a side-by-side algorithm comparison, allowing learners to observe how individual design decisions propagate through training. Through two usage scenarios, we demonstrate how UNIPO supports both classroom instruction for non-experts and algorithm selection for AI practitioners. Our tool is open-source and publicly available at https://poloclub.github.io/unipo.

Seongmin Lee, Aeree Cho, Grace C. Kim et al. · gatech

As large language models (LLMs) see wider real-world use, understanding and mitigating their unsafe behaviors is critical. Interpretation techniques can reveal causes of unsafe outputs and guide safety, but such connections with safety are often overlooked in prior surveys. We present the first survey that bridges this gap, introducing a unified framework that connects safety-focused interpretation methods, the safety enhancements they inform, and the tools that operationalize them. Our novel taxonomy, organized by LLM workflow stages, summarizes nearly 70 works at their intersections. We conclude with open challenges and future directions. This timely survey helps researchers and practitioners navigate key advancements for safer, more interpretable LLMs.

Matthew Hull, Haoyang Yang, Pratham Mehta et al. · gatech

As 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) gains rapid adoption in safety-critical tasks for efficient novel-view synthesis from static images, how might an adversary tamper images to cause harm? We introduce ComplicitSplat, the first attack that exploits standard 3DGS shading methods to create viewpoint-specific camouflage - colors and textures that change with viewing angle - to embed adversarial content in scene objects that are visible only from specific viewpoints and without requiring access to model architecture or weights. Our extensive experiments show that ComplicitSplat generalizes to successfully attack a variety of popular detector - both single-stage, multi-stage, and transformer-based models on both real-world capture of physical objects and synthetic scenes. To our knowledge, this is the first black-box attack on downstream object detectors using 3DGS, exposing a novel safety risk for applications like autonomous navigation and other mission-critical robotic systems.

Matthew Hull, Haoyang Yang, Pratham Mehta et al. · gatech

With 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) being increasingly used in safety-critical applications, how can an adversary manipulate the scene to cause harm? We introduce CLOAK, the first attack that leverages view-dependent Gaussian appearances - colors and textures that change with viewing angle - to embed adversarial content visible only from specific viewpoints. We further demonstrate DAGGER, a targeted adversarial attack directly perturbing 3D Gaussians without access to underlying training data, deceiving multi-stage object detectors e.g., Faster R-CNN, through established methods such as projected gradient descent. These attacks highlight underexplored vulnerabilities in 3DGS, introducing a new potential threat to robotic learning for autonomous navigation and other safety-critical 3DGS applications.