George Pappas
Associate Dean for Research
School of Engineering and Applied Science
University of Pennsylvania
Seminar Information

The rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence (A.I.) and large language models (LLMs) is revolutionizing our world. However, as these systems increasingly find real-world applications in controlling physical systems—such as autonomous robots, self-driving cars, and other critical infrastructure—their potential to cause harm has escalated dramatically. This is due to large error rates, lack of robustness, hallucinations, as well as a new LLM attack known as jailbreaking. Ensuring safety in safety critical contexts requires a paradigm shift from traditional A.I. development toward robust safety mechanisms. In this talk, I will explore how ideas from control theory can provide rigorous tools and frameworks for developing safety filters tailored towards control systems with deep learning in the loop and LLM-controlled robots, including VLA-controlled robots. By leveraging tools such as integrated quadratic constraints, temporal logic synthesis, and control barrier functions, I will address how our community can play a crucial role in designing A.I. safety systems that effectively mitigate risks while preserving the utility and adaptability of A.I. in real world applications.
George Pappas is the UPS Foundation Professor at the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds a secondary appointment in the Departments of Computer and Information Sciences, as well as Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics. He currently serves as the Associate Dean for Research and Innovation in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and as the Director of the Raj and Neera Singh program in Artificial Intelligence. Pappas’s research focuses on control systems, robotics, autonomous systems, formal methods, and machine learning for safe and secure cyber-physical systems. He has received numerous awards, including the NSF PECASE, the Antonio Ruberti Young Researcher Prize, the George S. Axelby Award, the O. Hugo Schuck Best Paper Award, and the George H. Heilmeier Faculty Excellence Award. Pappas has mentored more than fifty students and postdocs, now faculty in leading universities worldwide. He is a Fellow of IEEE, IFAC, and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2024.