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MACHINE AGE CARTOON

THE GUARDRAIL LOCKPICKER

By Zimbo · October 22, 2026

AI cartoon by Zimbo: Kolter strip: Georgetown B.S.; Stanford PhD 2010, MIT postdoc; 2012 CMU GUARANTEED padlock on a neural net; 2023 robot smashing the GUARDRAIL wall; Aug 2024 OpenAI safety & security committee chair; finale: Kolter chairs the committee while his robots pick guardrails apart.
Zico Kolter made his name proving AI safety was breakable — the first provably robust deep-learning models, then a 2023 machine that picked LLM guardrails apart automatically. In August 2024 OpenAI put the lockpicker in charge of the guardrails anyway. In six panels.Zimbo for AI News Page

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