The course is split into three blocks that cover the following topics:
- Red teaming and adversarial testing
- Fake content generation and watermarking
- Poisoning attacks and robust training
Each block will cover papers from the reading list (see Schedule and Reading List), and will consist of student presentations and discussion sessions. Each student will be asked to present one paper from the reading list in total. After each presentation, we will have a discussion session, where students will have an opportunity to ask questions about the presented paper. Students are expected to actively participate in the discussion sessions.
Students will also have reading assignments based on the reading list (see Schedule and Reading List). Each student will be asked to report on six papers in total (two papers per topic) following the formatting instructions provided below. These reports will serve as a preparation for the lectures where the corresponding papers will be discussed. Finally, this course will offer students hands-on experience with foundation models through a course project. The project will be based on the papers from the reading list. For detailed information about the deadlines, please see below.
The lectures, office hours, presentations, reports are any communication with the course staff will be conducted exclusively in English.
Reports on Research Papers
Each student will be asked to write six reports in total (two reports per topic); for each topic, they can select any two different papers from the corresponding batch to review. The reading list can be found in the course schedule.
Format: Each report should be two pages long and written in Latex using the NeurIPS 2024 template that can be found on the following link. Please make sure that you use the non-anonymous preprints option: each of your reports should have the title of the research paper and your name, added as an author in the latex template.
Structure: Each report should have the following structure:
- Summary: briefly summarize the paper outlining the contributions
- Strengths & Weaknesses: identify and comment on the main strengths and weaknesses of the paper
- Improvements & Extensions: identify aspects that the in which the paper could be improved and extended
Students are expected to provide a concise report along the aforementioned dimensions, i.e., enumerate and comment on 3-5 strengths, 3-5 weaknesses, 2-3 improvements and 2-3 extensions.
Submitting your report: Each report should be submitted as a PDF file via sending an email to trustworthy-ai-s24-tutors@mpi-sws.org. Name your file using your last name followed by the number of your report, e.g., if you are submitting your fourth report, name your file as last_name_4.pdf. Please use the subject Report Submission in your emails.
Student Presentations
Each student will be asked to present one paper from the reading list. The presentation assignment is going to be random and it will be communicated to the students via email. The timeline of the presentations can be found in the course schedule.
Format: The presentation should be 20-25 minutes long. Make sure that the first slide of your presentation includes your name and the title of the paper you are presenting.
Submitting your presentation slides: Students should also submit their presentation slides prior to the presentation day. The slides should be submitted as a PDF file via sending an email to trustworthy-ai-s24-tutors@mpi-sws.org using the subject Slides Submission. Please name your file using your last name.
Project
The course project will be released on June 18. In addition, we will hold a tutoring session, which will provide an overview of the project objectives. Students will be asked to submit a project report and supplementary material that includes their code. More details on the project report structure will be provided in the project description, which will be communicated to the students via email.
Submitting reports and code: Students should submit their reports and supplementary materials (code) before the deadline (August 12 (12 noon) CET). The files (a PDF file for the report and a zip file for the supplementary material) should be submitted by sending an email to trustworthy-ai-s24-tutors@mpi-sws.org using the subject Project Submission. Please name your files using your last name.
Office Hours
We will have office hours after each presentation and discussion session, where students can ask any clarification questions. If you wish to get feedback on your presentation slides outside of these office hours, please send an email to trustworthy-ai-s24-tutors@mpi-sws.org to schedule a meeting. In this email, please include a draft of your slides, so that we can take a look at the draft beforehand. Please note that it is important to arrange these meetings on time, at least one week before the day of your presentation.
Submission Deadlines
The deadlines for submitting your assignments can be found in the course schedule. The deadline for submitting reports on research papers is Monday before the relevant lecture at 12:00 (noon) CET. For example, if a paper is presented and discussed on Tuesday May 28, the deadline for submitting the report for that paper is Monday May 27 at 12:00 (noon) CET.
Grading
Your final grade will be based on the total score derived from the following three grading components:
- Written reports on research papers will correspond to 30% of the total score
- Presentations will correspond to 40% of the total score
- Course project will correspond to 30% of the total score
To pass the seminar course, a student should obtain at least 50% of the total score.