Microsoft Research shows AI agents can be backdoored by editing fewer than 10 neurons
Microsoft researchers demonstrated a technique called Lazarus that turns a well-behaved LLM into a sleeper agent by reprogramming fewer than 10 dormant neurons, with no retraining; the backdoor activates when a chosen trigger appears.
Read the full story at Microsoft Research Blog ↗
Timeline · 9 reports
- 2026-11-12 03:35 · r/artificial
Microsoft researchers backdoored an AI agent by editing fewer than 10 neurons - no retraining needed - 2026-11-11 15:04 · DEV Community — Machine Learning
Microsoft's 'Lazarus' backdoor hides in fewer than 10 dormant neurons — and needs no retraining - 2026-11-11 10:01 · DEV Community — Machine Learning
Seven Neurons and a Trigger String: What Microsoft's Lazarus Backdoor Actually Proves - 2026-11-11 08:30 · The Next Web
Microsoft finds AI agents can be backdoored by editing under 10 neurons - 2026-11-11 07:21 · The Hacker News (security)
Microsoft Researchers Show AI Agents Can Be Backdoored by Editing Fewer Than 10 Neurons - 2026-11-11 04:48 · DEV Community — AI
🗞️ AI Daily Report, Nov 11: Microsoft's Lazarus backdoors AI agents via dormant neurons, NVIDIA's Agent Substrate targets idle agent waste on K8s, and ChatGPT's old voice modes retire Dec 11. - 2026-11-11 04:09 · r/LocalLLaMA
Microsoft Research backdoored an AI agent by directly editing fewer than 10 dormant neurons - 2026-11-10 23:18 · AlphaSignal
Microsoft's Lazarus Backdoors AI Agents by Rewiring Just 10 Neurons - 2026-11-10 20:52 · Microsoft Research Blog
Lazare, veni foras: Reprogramming Dormant Neurons to Backdoor AI Agents