AI Lab Makes Stop at Allegany High School

By: Natalie Leslie | Cumberland Times-News

Allegany High School students learned to train artificial intelligence to fight off a cybersecurity attack this week through Northrop Grumman’s Mobile eXploration Lab (MXLab).

The inside of the lab looks like something out of a science fiction movie, featuring colorful lights, large screens and panels of buttons. Students worked together in teams of four or five to train the AI model to fight against a cybersecurity simulation.

“Our big goal is to get kids excited about growing fields, specifically AI and cybersecurity, which are growing at a very fast rate,” said Jordan Long, an educator for MXLab. “AI is one of the biggest fields right now and it’s increasing. That’s a big part of it, and also interest in computers in general.”

There are three roles students can take on in the defense against the attack. One involves securing the firewall, one works with the chatbot and the third works on a puzzle to write code to find where the attack is rooted.

Students each focus on their individual roles to train the AI models and stop the attack as a team.

One of the primary goals in providing this experience to high school students is to stomp out common misconceptions about AI.

“One of the things that’s really important to me when we are teaching this is that AI is not this magical thing that knows everything — that AI can be construed into kind of giving the information you want it to give based on the data you give it,” Long said.

Part of the simulation involved a dilemma where the students on their own cannot win against the cybersecurity attack, but the AI model they trained can. Students scramble as the attack spirals out of control, but once the AI kicks in they are able to sit back and watch it stop.

“In this activity they see the AI has been given some data it shouldn’t be given … we can train it to stop attacks faster than one human could do,” Long said.

The MXLab is currently primarily based in Maryland and Virginia, but is increasingly expanding.

“I like to come out to rural areas, just because there are fewer opportunities out here, so this is something that I can really feel fulfilled as a teacher myself,” said Emily Adams, an educator with MXLab.

Alongside the AI model the students trained, they are able to take out the cybersecurity attacker by the end of the game.

Students are then asked to take a survey on how they could improve the overall experience. Additionally, they are given a number to text if they are interested in learning more about pursuing a career in AI or cybersecurity.