I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). I received my Ph.D. in Computer Science from Penn State University under the guidance of Dr. George Kesidis and Dr. David Miller. I obtained my M.S. degree in Computer Science from Penn State University in 2018 and my B.S. degree from the School of Information Science and Engineering at Southeast University in Nanjing, China, in 2016.
Research Interests: My research broadly focuses on trustworthy AI. Recently, we have been exploring the following topics:
Check my resume here (Last updated: May 2025).
Most recent publications are on Google Scholar.
Towards Safe Multi-Modal Learning: Unique Challenges and Future Directions
Xi Li, Manling Li, Muchao Ye
ICCV Tutorial, 2025
Exploitation and Mitigation: Understanding Large-Scale Machine Learning Robustness under Paradigm Shift
Xi Li, Ruixiang Tang, Muchao Ye
SDM Tutorial, 2025
Chain-of-Scrutiny: Detecting Backdoor Attacks for Large Language Models
Xi Li, Ruofan Mao, Yusen Zhang, Renze Lou, Chen Wu, Jiaqi Wang
ACL(Findings) 2025
NeuroGen: Neural Network Parameter Generation via Large Language Models
Jiaqi Wang, Yusen Zhang, Xi Li
Under review
PeerGuard: Defending Multi-Agent Systems Against Backdoor Attacks Through Mutual Reasoning
Falong Fan, Xi Li
IEEE IRI 2025
Position Paper: Assessing Robustness, Privacy, and Fairness in Federated Learning Integrated with Foundation Models
Xi Li, Jiaqi Wang
Under review
Foundation Models in Federated Learning: Assessing Backdoor Vulnerabilities
Xi Li, Chen Wu, Jiaqi Wang
IJCNN, 2025
Correcting the distribution of batch normalization signals for Trojan mitigation
Xi Li, Zhen Xiang, David Miller, George Kesidis
Neurocomputing, 2024
BIC-based Mixture Model Defense against Data Poisoning Attacks on Classifiers: A Comprehensive Study
Xi Li, David Miller, Zhen Xiang, George Kesidis
IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering (TKDE), 2024
Temporal-Distributed Backdoor Attack Against Video-Based Action Recognition
Xi Li, Songhe Wang, Ruiquan Huang, Mahanth Gowda, George Kesidis
AAAI, 2024
Backdoor Threats from Compromised Foundation Models to Federated Learning
Xi Li, Songhe Wang, Chen Wu, Hao Zhou, Jiaqi Wang
FL@FM-NeurIPS'23
Test-Time Detection of Backdoor Triggers of Poisoned Deep Neural Networks
Xi Li, David Miller, Zhen Xiang, George Kesidis
ICASSP, 2022
Towards Safe Multi-Modal Learning: Unique Challenges and Future Directions
Xi Li, Manling Li, Muchao Ye
ICCV Tutorial, 2025
Exploitation and Mitigation: Understanding Large-Scale Machine Learning Robustness under Paradigm Shift
Xi Li, Ruixiang Tang, Muchao Ye
SDM Tutorial, 2025
Chain-of-Scrutiny: Detecting Backdoor Attacks for Large Language Models
Xi Li, Ruofan Mao, Yusen Zhang, Renze Lou, Chen Wu, Jiaqi Wang
ACL(Findings) 2025
NeuroGen: Neural Network Parameter Generation via Large Language Models
Jiaqi Wang, Yusen Zhang, Xi Li
Under review
AAAR-1.0: Assessing AI’s Potential to Assist Research
Renze Lou, Hanzi Xu, Sijia Wang, Jiangshu Du, Ryo Kamoi, Xiaoxin Lu, Jian Xie, Yuxuan Sun, Yusen Zhang, Jihyun Janice Ahn, Hongchao Fang, Zhuoyang Zou, Wenchao Ma, Xi Li, Kai Zhang, Congying Xia, Lifu Huang, Wenpeng Yin
ICML, 2025
Mitigating Image Captioning Hallucinations in Vision-Language Models
Fei Zhao, Chengcui Zhang, Runlin Zhang, Tianyang Wang, Xi Li
IEEE MIPR, 2025
PeerGuard: Defending Multi-Agent Systems Against Backdoor Attacks Through Mutual Reasoning
Falong Fan, Xi Li
IEEE IRI 2025
Securing Federated Learning Against Novel and Classic Backdoor Threats During Foundation Model Integration
Xiaohuan Bi, Xi Li
IEEE IRI 2025
Position Paper: Assessing Robustness, Privacy, and Fairness in Federated Learning Integrated with Foundation Models
Xi Li, Jiaqi Wang
Under review
CEPA: Consensus Embedded Perturbation for Agnostic Detection and Inversion of Backdoors
Guangmingmei Yang, Xi Li, Hang Wang, David Miller, George Kesidis
Under review
Foundation Models in Federated Learning: Assessing Backdoor Vulnerabilities
Xi Li, Chen Wu, Jiaqi Wang
IJCNN, 2025
Correcting the distribution of batch normalization signals for Trojan mitigation
Xi Li, Zhen Xiang, David Miller, George Kesidis
Neurocomputing, 2024
BIC-based Mixture Model Defense against Data Poisoning Attacks on Classifiers: A Comprehensive Study
Xi Li, David Miller, Zhen Xiang, George Kesidis
IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering (TKDE), 2024
Unveiling Backdoor Risks Brought by Foundation Models in Heterogeneous Federated Learning
Xi Li, Chen Wu, Jiaqi Wang
PAKDD, 2024
Temporal-Distributed Backdoor Attack Against Video-Based Action Recognition
Xi Li, Songhe Wang, Ruiquan Huang, Mahanth Gowda, George Kesidis
AAAI, 2024
Backdoor Threats from Compromised Foundation Models to Federated Learning
Xi Li, Songhe Wang, Chen Wu, Hao Zhou, Jiaqi Wang
FL@FM-NeurIPS'23
A BIC-based Mixture Model Defense against Data Poisoning Attacks on Classifiers
Xi Li, David Miller, Zhen Xiang, George Kesidis
MLSP, 2023
Test-Time Detection of Backdoor Triggers of Poisoned Deep Neural Networks
Xi Li, David Miller, Zhen Xiang, George Kesidis
ICASSP, 2022
Detecting Backdoor Attacks Against Point Cloud Classifiers
Zhen Xiang, David Miller, Siheng Chen, Xi Li, George Kesidis
ICASSP, 2022
A Backdoor Attack against 3D Point Cloud Classifiers
Zhen Xiang, David Miller, Siheng Chen, Xi Li, George Kesidis
ICCV, 2021
Instructor UAB
Teaching Assistant PSU
Meta, NYC | Summer 2024