Research group CIAAM-USP

Agentic
Complex
Systems

We study emergent phenomena and capabilities within and across generative systems trained for natural language communication.

ACS branching tree inspired by Darwin’s I think sketch
The emergence of minds from societies of mindless components.
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Research directions

Our current projects

AI-Assisted Systematic Reviews of Medical Literature

We develop multi-agentic systems to support Evidence-Based Medicine.

AI Safety and Alignment Auditing

We develop methods to evaluate robustness, harmful prompt detection, and alignment dynamics in large language models.

Collective Intelligence in Multi-Agent Systems

We analyze coordination, cooperation, and emergent behavior in interacting agents at scales beyond individual human oversight.

Fundamentals of Machine Learning

We study fundamental questions in machine learning, such as learning dynamics, limits on representational capacity, and domain adaptation methods.

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Publications

Papers, preprints & conference contributions

2026

Automated Risk of Bias Assessment in Systematic Reviews Using Large Language Models: A Multi-Model Single-Agent Benchmark on 227 Randomised Controlled Trials

L. F. G. Teixeira, C. P. de Barros, R. Vicente

Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks for Small Language Models

F. Alves, R. Vicente

Robustness of Language Models against Portuguese Harmful Prompts

E. A. Amorim, C. Zanchettin

2025

Moral Susceptibility and Robustness under Persona Role-Play in Large Language Models

D. B. Costa, F. Alves, R. Vicente

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People

The researchers behind the work

Postdocs

Dr. Felippe AlvesPostdoctoral Researcher
Dr. Luiz F. Guain TeixeiraPostdoctoral Researcher

PhD Students

Felipe RubimPhD Student
Estevão VieiraPhD Student

Master Students

Gabriel CostaMaster Student
Sergio BoniniMaster Student
Lucas PortaMaster Student
Gustavo MezzovillaMaster Student
Leonardo ValadaoMaster Student
Giovanni DalviMaster Student
Carlo LemosMaster Student

Undergrad Students

Thais MartinsUndergraduate Student
Thainara AssisUndergraduate Student
Gustavo BernardoUndergraduate Student
Gabriel MattosUndergraduate Student
Vinicius GuimarãesUndergraduate Student
Marina ReuterUndergraduate Student
Inácio CapituleioUndergraduate Student
Henrique TavaresUndergraduate Student
Matheus QueirozUndergraduate Student
Rafael CamõesUndergraduate Student
Lucas MaiaUndergraduate Student
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Open resources

Learn, discuss & explore

Teaching / September 2026

Neural Networks:
from Turing to LLMs

Open lecture by R. Vicente, IME-USP. Explore the ideas through interactive demonstrations.

Weekly discussions

Journal Club

Every week, we choose one paper—or a paper idea—as a starting point for discussion and idea generation.

Explore the discussions →
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Research insights

Ideas and perspectives from the group

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Supported by

Contact

Let’s exchange ideas.

rvicente@usp.br ↗

TELUS Digital Research Hub
Center for Artificial Intelligence
and Machine Learning (CIAAM-USP)