Biography:Yaron Singer

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Yaron Singer
File:Yaron Singer.jpg
Alma materUniversity of California, Berkeley (PhD)
AwardsSloan Research Fellowship, NSF CAREER Award, Google Faculty Research Award, Facebook Faculty Award
Scientific career
FieldsComputer science, Machine learning, Algorithms, Algorithmic Mechanism Design
InstitutionsHarvard University, Robust Intelligence, Cisco Systems
Doctoral advisorChristos Papadimitriou

Yaron Singer is a computer scientist and entrepreneur whose work has focused on algorithms, machine learning, optimization, and artificial intelligence security. He was the Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at Harvard University and co-founded Robust Intelligence, an artificial intelligence security company acquired by Cisco Systems in 2024.[1][2]

Education

Singer received a PhD in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley under the supervision of Christos Papadimitriou.[3]

Academic career

Singer was a postdoctoral research scientist at Google Research.[1]

Singer joined the computer science faculty at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in 2013 and became a full professor in 2019.[1]

Research

Singer's research has focused on algorithms and machine learning, including optimization, algorithmic mechanism design, and adversarial machine learning.[1]

His doctoral work studied computational limits in algorithmic mechanism design, including truthful mechanisms and budget-feasible mechanisms.[3][4][5]

In optimization, Singer co-authored work on submodular optimization and parallel algorithms for large-scale data processing.[6][7][8]

Singer has also worked on adversarial machine learning, including attacks that use small perturbations or noise to affect the behavior of machine learning systems.[9][10][11]

Entrepreneurship

In 2020, Singer co-founded Robust Intelligence Kojin Oshiba.[12] Harvard SEAS reported that the company raised $14 million that year, and TechCrunch reported in 2021 that the company raised a $30 million Series B round led by Tiger Global.[12][13]

The company developed tools for testing AI models and detecting failures before or during deployment. TechCrunch described its RIME product as using an "AI firewall" to stress-test models.[13]

In 2024, Cisco Systems acquired Robust Intelligence.[2] CTech reported that Cisco had not disclosed the purchase amount when the acquisition was announced, and later reported the deal value as $400 million.[14][15]

In 2025, Cisco launched Foundation AI, a Cisco team focused on AI for cybersecurity. Techzine reported that Singer led the team and was Cisco's VP of AI and Security.[16]

Recognition

Singer has received a Sloan Research Fellowship, an NSF CAREER Award, a Google Faculty Research Award, and a Facebook Faculty Award. As a graduate student, he received Microsoft Research and Facebook fellowships.[1]

In 2012, he received the Best Student Paper Award at the ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining for "How to Win Friends and Influence People, Truthfully: Influence Maximization Mechanisms for Social Networks."[17]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Burrows, Leah (11 February 2020). "Yaron Singer granted tenure". Harvard University. https://seas.harvard.edu/news/yaron-singer-granted-tenure. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Robust Intelligence Is Now Part of Cisco". https://www.cisco.com/site/us/en/products/security/ai-defense/robust-intelligence-is-part-of-cisco/index.html. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Singer, Yaron (2011). Incentives, Computation, and Networks: Limitations and Possibilities of Algorithmic Mechanism Design (PhD dissertation). University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 19 May 2026.
  4. ↑ Papadimitriou, Christos; Schapira, Michael; Singer, Yaron (2008). "On the Hardness of Being Truthful". pp. 250–259. doi:10.1109/FOCS.2008.54. 
  5. ↑ Singer, Yaron (2010). "Budget feasible mechanisms". pp. 765–774. doi:10.1109/FOCS.2010.78. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/FOCS.2010.78. 
  6. ↑ Balkanski, Eric; Singer, Yaron (2018). "The Adaptive Complexity of Maximizing a Submodular Function". pp. 1138–1151. doi:10.1145/3188745.3188752. 
  7. ↑ Temming, Maria (16 July 2018). "Solving problems by computer just got a lot faster". Science News. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/solving-problems-computer-just-got-lot-faster. 
  8. ↑ Choi, Charles Q. (5 July 2018). "New Optimization Algorithm Exponentially Speeds Computation". IEEE Spectrum. https://spectrum.ieee.org/new-optimization-algorithm-exponentially-speeds-computation. 
  9. ↑ Shaw, Jonathan (6 December 2018). "AI and adversarial attacks". Harvard Magazine. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2018/12/ai-and-adversarial-attacks. Retrieved 19 May 2026. 
  10. ↑ Burrows, Leah (16 February 2018). "Noise warfare". Harvard University. https://seas.harvard.edu/news/noise-warfare. 
  11. ↑ Farrar, Olivia (21 March 2025). "Understanding AI Vulnerabilities". Harvard Magazine. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/ai/artificial-intelligence-vulnerabilities-harvard-yaron-singer. Retrieved 19 May 2026. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Zewe, Adam (21 October 2020). "SEAS startup raises $14M". Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (Harvard University). https://seas.harvard.edu/news/seas-startup-raises-14m. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lardinois, Frederic (9 December 2021). "Robust Intelligence raises $30M Series B to stress test AI models". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/09/robust-intelligence-raises-30m-series-b-to-stress-test-ai-models/. 
  14. ↑ Orbach, Meir (27 August 2024). "Cisco to acquire Yaron Singer's Robust Intelligence to enhance AI security". CTech. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/b1a600iija. 
  15. ↑ Shulman, Sophie (22 September 2024). "Inside Yaron Singer's surprising $400M sale to Cisco". CTech. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/rjgsb5npa. 
  16. ↑ Almekinders, Sander (28 April 2025). "Cisco launches Foundation AI and introduces open-source security AI model". Techzine Global. https://www.techzine.eu/news/security/130906/cisco-launches-foundation-ai-and-introduces-open-source-security-ai-model/. 
  17. ↑ "WSDM 2012: Breaking News". 9 February 2012. https://wsdm2012.org/. 



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