A student team from the Florida Institute of National Security (FINS) took top honors late last month at Gator Hack, the University of Florida’s 2025 AI Days hackathon.
Their project, “Plato’s Cave – A Human-Centered Agentic System for Validating Research Papers,” impressed judges with its innovative approach to augmenting scientific integrity using artificial intelligence and human-in-the-loop design.
The project centered on AI and Large Language Models that often create unverifiable claims, unsupported evidence and fabricated data. This erosion of research integrity, they said, affects students, educators, researchers and publishers who rely on trustworthy sources to advance their work.
Academics and organizations need better tools to evaluate AI-generated content. So the FINS team created software that breaks down source documents into factual and logical claims before verifying the claims using a legion of AI agents that scour the internet for truth.
“Instead of forcing users to trust the accuracy of AI-generated reports, this software represents documents as visual flowcharts that users can explore to internalize the integrity of specific claims. These software tools help users inspect and reject speculative statements made by AI,” the team noted on the Hackathon website.
Part of UF’s AI Days, the AI hackathon is a high-energy competition for students from across multiple disciplines to build transformative AI systems to address real-world issues. More than 40 teams collaborated to push the boundaries of what’s possible with AI.
The FINS team’s system combined interactive human oversight and explainable AI to help validate research papers. The winning entry incorporated natural-language processing, visualization and workflow automation to help researchers verify claims, uncover inconsistencies and surface hidden dependencies in scientific publications.
This win reflects FINS’ commitment to developing AI/data-science talent and leading applied AI innovation. The recognition, team members said, underscores UF’s status as a hub where students don’t just learn, they lead, build and win.
Asked what it took to win, team members said hard work and, well, their teammates.
“There are just so many smart guys on our team,” answered team member Kristian O’Connor.
The team: O’Connor, Matheus Kunzler Maldaner, Raul Valle, Stephen Wormald and James Woelke. Its advisers are professors Damon Woodard, Jose Principe and Joel Harley, all Ph.D.s.