Brendan Dolan-Gavitt is a Distinguished Engineer working on AI agents for offensive security at XBOW. Prior to joining XBOW he spent ten years researching software security and AI as an Associate Professor at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering.

His research focuses on the intersection of AI and software security, examining both the security of software produced using AI assistants such as GitHub Copilot, and exploring how AI systems can be used to improve on traditional techniques in software security.

Brendan has received the NSF CAREER award, two R&D 100 Awards, and a distinguished paper award at IEEE S&P 2022. He is currently working at XBOW to build AI agents for offensive security that can find and fix vulnerabilities in web applications before they can be exploited by attackers.

1 episode of the Smashing Security podcast:

• 468: High-speed train hacks and homicidal lawnmowers · May 20, 2026