Is This Your AI? Researchers Crack AI Blackbox

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems power everything from chatbots to security cameras, yet many of the most advanced models operate as “black boxes.” Companies can use them, but outsiders can’t see how they were built, where they came from, or whether they contain hidden flaws.

This lack of transparency creates real risks. A model could contain security vulnerabilities or hidden backdoors. It could also be a lightly modified version of an open-source system — repackaged in violation of its license — with no easy way to prove it.

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new framework, ZEN, to help solve this problem. The tool can recover a model’s unique “fingerprint” directly from its memory, allowing experts to trace its origins and reconstruct how it was assembled.