Jehyeok Yeon

Oh, hey there! I’m Jehyeok Yeon, a junior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign studying Computer Science and Linguistics. I’m preparing for graduate studies, with a focus on building intelligent systems that are both technically robust and socially responsible.

My research focuses on trustworthy and explainable AI. I’m interested in how we can design systems, particularly agents, that make autonomous decisions while remaining predictable, safe, and aligned with human intent. In particular, I explore how we can formalize and evaluate agency in AI systems. A project recently accepted to ACM Collective Intelligence is about modeling leadership in multi-agent systems to better understand coordination and influence in decentralized environments. My current projects include a quantitative certification framework for agentic AI tool usage, and modeling LLM internal safety behavior using grounded methods. More broadly, I’m interested in the theoretical foundations of AI behavior and how these can be strengthened and/or exploited.

Outside of research, I care a lot about writing, both creative and academic, and how it shapes the way we think. I spend a lot of time walking and thinking through ideas, and I try to catch theatre performances whenever I can. There’s something powerful about live storytelling that reminds me why I study intelligence in the first place. I also dabble in designing cover art and animated videos for music videos and singing anonymous covers that will never see the light of day.

The fastest way to reach me is through tommy8289@gmail.com. Feel free to reach out if you have any interesting ideas to throw around!