When Som Sagar describes his work as “breaking models and finding ways to fix them,” he’s not being flippant. It’s just his way of making high-stakes artificial intelligence, or AI, sound like play.
Sagar is a third-year computer science doctoral student in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. He is also a researcher in the Laboratory for Learning Evaluation of Autonomous Systems, or LENS Lab, where his work explores innovative uses of reinforcement learning.
This is a type of AI where a computer system experiments with different actions and receives rewards for good outcomes or consequences for bad ones. Gradually, the system learns to choose the actions that earn the most rewards. Sagar applies this emerging technology to help make AI systems safer and less prone to failure.
This summer, he’s brought those skills to LinkedIn, working on-site at the social media giant’s headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. From May to August, he’s interning with the company’s agents platform team to help develop intelligent agents that help people get more done.
From the Valley of the Sun to Silicon Valley
Sagar’s journey is a standout example of how Fulton Schools students are making major waves in AI and other emerging technologies. He earned internship offers from HP, Bosch and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory before choosing to spend the summer at LinkedIn.
The reason?
“Agentic AI,” Sagar says. “LinkedIn is actually building systems that feel straight out of science fiction. They are making tools that help users get real tasks done, not just generate content.”
One such tool is LinkedIn’s Hiring Assistant, an AI agent that helps recruiters by surfacing candidates and making tailored recommendations. The system is designed to help hiring managers quickly find the right people for the right jobs.
“It’s not ChatGPT. It’s closer to JARVIS from Iron Man,” he says. “It doesn’t just tell you how to do something. Its intelligent, adaptive nature shows how LinkedIn is leveraging generative AI to solve complex recruiting challenges.”
Sagar explains that LinkedIn’s philosophy aligns closely with his own research interests where he is focused on building trustworthy AI systems.
“The teams at LinkedIn have built transparency and safety mechanisms directly into their systems, which ensures that powerful models remain aligned with ethical use and user trust,” he says.
He also says that the internship is an ideal steppingstone for an early career researcher. Sagar attends events called Company Connect hosted by CEO Ryan Roslansky that celebrate achievements and foster a sense of community. On InDays, designated times where researchers focus on work beyond their daily tasks, Sagar and other team members experiment with new ideas and technologies.
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