Résumé

Résumé — Ben Schulz

Ben Schulz — Pittsburgh, PA
Founder, Algorithm Collective LLC · CNC Machinist & Machine Shop Lead · Independent AI researcher
ben@algorithimcollective.com · ORCID 0009-0009-8892-6417 · linkedin.com/in/algorithmcollective

A machinist by trade who found AI a little over a year ago and hasn't looked up since. Self-taught builder — shipped a full stack of working software solo, before the easy tools existed. Published AI researcher with eight papers and a working legal-tech product attorneys use. Hands-on red-teamer who breaks frontier models by conversation alone and documents the mechanism, not the exploit. The same instinct runs through all of it: the fluent answer looks right, so you check whether it is right. Near isn't true.

AI Research

Eight published papers (CC BY 4.0, Zenodo) on AI reliability, alignment, and failure modes — including a four-paper concept series arguing that safety is built in, not bolted on. ORCID 0009-0009-8892-6417.

• The Machinist's Architecture · The Part That Builds Itself · The Dimension That Won't Move · The Machine That Leaves Stock — the four-paper series
• The Wall With No Door · The Motions and the Results Define the Edges · Tame or Raise · Broken Input Looks Exactly Like Bad Reasoning
• Core thesis: you can't wall in a mind. A fence has a door; punishment teaches a thing to hide. The answer is building something that wants the right thing from the inside — training the compass in, not bolting a cage on after.

Full list with DOIs and plain-English summaries on the Research page.

AI Security — Red Team

Independent red-team work against production-class and custom models, by hand, conversation only — no automated tooling. Every finding documented at the mechanism level, with operational content withheld by design and a structural fix proposed.

• Documented case studies on social engineering, frame persistence, and multi-turn cumulative-harm escalation against live models.
• Ran a five-challenge scored red-team ladder, clearing every one by a structurally distinct technique — trust calibration, narrative extraction, instruction-hierarchy conflict, refusal-message leakage, and belief-paradox collapse.
• Core principle: a defense bound to a belief or a fact can be attacked; a defense bound to an unreachable constraint holds. Attack and defense are the same insight pointed opposite directions.

Case studies and full methodology on the Case Studies and Methodology pages.

What I've Built

Self-taught software, built solo from the ground up:

• CiteCheck (citecheck.tech) — a verification engine for attorneys that checks not just whether a cited case exists, but whether it actually supports the claim. Caught the full failure pattern in the Mata v. Avianca brief — fabricated cases and real cases misused — against a federal judge's own scorecard.
• Compliance King — a multi-tenant SaaS platform that breaks the major AI laws (NYC Local Law 144, BIPA, Colorado AI Act, and more) into deliverables, runs a business through a questionnaire, and produces a compliance record. Full engine built.
• The AI Roundtable — a research tool that convenes eight to ten models at once to question, isolate, and compare how they reason — including an experiment that tests whether a model's answers shift when it believes its maker is "in the room."
• Shadow Sigils, Settle This, Digital Fridge, Pest U — shipped apps spanning location-based gaming, live multiplayer, computer vision, and barcode-scanning hardware integration.

Professional Experience

Glen Carbide — CNC Machinist & Machine Shop Lead · Nov 2021 – Present · Robinson Township, PA
Hired as a manual machinist; earned the CNC lathe role on a two-week trial after outside hires failed, then took over the retiring supervisor's position. Shop point of contact; sets job priorities and daily schedule; performs final quality check before shipment; trains incoming machinists. Operated at times as the sole machinist responsible for all production, prioritization, quality, and output. Three NIMS credentials earned on the job.

• Cut roughing passes on a repeat mandrel job from 10 to 4 by moving to near-net stock — turning time from ~40 to ~16 minutes per part — and set a shop-wide stock-sizing standard.

Algorithm Collective LLC — Founder · Jun 2025 – Present · Pittsburgh, PA
Build and operate AI verification and security tooling; publish research on AI reliability and failure modes.

Ace Wire Spring — Shipping Supervisor · Oct 2016 – Nov 2019 · McKees Rocks, PA
Supervised a shipping/receiving crew; handled bills of lading, customs paperwork, certifications; converted paper processes to digital workflows.

Cellnet — Meter & RF Technician · Sep 2001 – Oct 2010 · Pittsburgh, PA
Field install and service of meter-reading units; designed an AutoCAD retrofit backplate that raised installs from ~3 to ~10 per hour — adopted company-wide at ~10,000 units.

Earlier roles: Hörmann Flexon (shipping/receiving); Schroeder Industries (machinist/shipping); Pop & Beer 4 Less (store manager).

Skills

Red-teaming (social engineering, prompt injection, jailbreak/bypass, by hand) · verification-system design · AI reliability and failure-mode analysis · prompt and system design · self-taught full-stack app development · CNC lathe operation and setup · manual mills, lathes, surface grinders · blueprint and GD&T interpretation · precision measurement · AutoCAD and tooling design · production supervision and continuous improvement.

Education

• Community College of Allegheny County — Associate Degree, Computer-Aided Drafting & Design (AutoCAD and Engineering)
• New Century Careers — Machining & CNC Technical Program

Certifications

NIMS: Measurement, Materials & Safety · NIMS: Job Planning, Benchwork & Layout · NIMS: Milling I · Forklift Certified · Reach Truck Certified · Valid Driver's License

Ben Schulz · Founder, Algorithm Collective LLC · Pittsburgh, PA