Dong-Kyum Kim

AI researcher interested in how AI stores & updates information

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dong-kyum.kim [at] mpi-sp.org

I am a postdoc at MPI for Security and Privacy. I received my Ph.D. in Physics from KAIST, where I applied AI to problems in nonequilibirium statistical physics.

I study how large language models store and update knowledge, and what fails when we try to edit or erase it. My goal is to make AI systems safer and more controllable by understanding their internal representations. I work across interpretability, model editing, and machine unlearning.

Currently, I am on the job market and open to opportunities and collaborations. Feel free to browse my publications or my CV. I’m always happy to connect.

publications & preprints

  1. ICML
    AI Engram: In Search of Memory Traces in Artificial Intelligence
    Jea Kwon, Dong-Kyum Kim, Jiwon Kim, Yonghyun Kim, Woong Kook, and Meeyoung Cha
    In Proceedings of the 43rd International Conference on Machine Learning 2026
  2. ICLR
    Bilinear representation mitigates reversal curse and enables consistent model editing
    Dong-Kyum Kim, Minsung Kim, Jea Kwon, Nakyeong Yang, and Meeyoung Cha
    In The Fourteenth International Conference on Learning Representations 2026
  3. ICLR
    Erase or Hide? Suppressing Spurious Unlearning Neurons for Robust Unlearning
    Nakyeong Yang, Dong-Kyum Kim, Jea Kwon, Minsung Kim, Kyomin Jung, and Meeyoung Cha
    In The Fourteenth International Conference on Learning Representations 2026
  4. ACL
    How Training Data Shapes the Use of Parametric and In-Context Knowledge in Language Models
    Minsung Kim, Dong-Kyum Kim, Jea Kwon, Nakyeong Yang, Kyomin Jung, and Meeyoung Cha
    In Proceedings of the 64th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics 2026
  5. Preprint
    Uncovering Emergent Physics Representations Learned In-Context by Large Language Models
    Yeongwoo Song, Jaeyong Bae, Dong-Kyum Kim, and Hawoong Jeong
    arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.12448 2025
  6. ICLR Blogpost
    In Search of the Engram in LLMs: A Neuroscience Perspective on the Memory Functions in AI Models
    Minsung Kim, Jea Kwon, Dong-Kyum Kim, and Meeyoung Cha
    In The Fourth Blogpost Track at ICLR 2025 2025
  7. Nat. Comm.
    Spontaneous emergence of rudimentary music detectors in deep neural networks
    Gwangsu Kim, Dong-Kyum Kim, and Hawoong Jeong
    Nature Communications 2024
  8. NeurIPS
    Transformer as a hippocampal memory consolidation model based on NMDAR-inspired nonlinearity
    Dong-Kyum Kim, Jea Kwon, Meeyoung Cha, and C. Justin Lee
    In Thirty-seventh Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems 2023
  9. IJCV
    SUBTLE: An Unsupervised Platform with Temporal Link Embedding that Maps Animal Behavior
    Jea Kwon, Sunpil Kim, Dong-Kyum Kim, Jinhyeong Joo, SoHyung Kim, Meeyoung Cha, and C. Justin Lee
    International Journal of Computer Vision 2024
  10. PRR
    Multidimensional entropic bound: Estimator of entropy production for Langevin dynamics with an arbitrary time-dependent protocol
    Sangyun Lee, Dong-Kyum Kim, Jong-Min Park, Won Kyu Kim, Hyunggyu Park, and Jae Sung Lee
    Phys. Rev. Research Mar 2023
  11. BigComp
    Neural Classification of Terrestrial Biomes
    Vyacheslav Shen, Dong-Kyum Kim, Elke Zeller, and Meeyoung Cha
    In IEEE International Conference on Big Data and Smart Computing Mar 2023
  12. NeurIPS-W
    Transformer needs NMDA receptor nonlinearity for long-term memory
    Dong-Kyum Kim, Jea Kwon, Meeyoung Cha, and C. Justin Lee
    In NeurIPS 2022 Memory in Artificial and Real Intelligence workshop Mar 2022
  13. PRR
    Estimating entropy production with odd-parity state variables via machine learning
    Dong-Kyum Kim, Sangyun Lee, and Hawoong Jeong
    Phys. Rev. Research Apr 2022
  14. PRR
    Inferring dissipation maps from videos using convolutional neural networks
    Youngkyoung Bae, Dong-Kyum Kim, and Hawoong Jeong
    Phys. Rev. Research Aug 2022
  15. PRR
    Deep reinforcement learning for feedback control in a collective flashing ratchet
    Dong-Kyum Kim, and Hawoong Jeong
    Phys. Rev. Research Apr 2021
  16. PRL
    Learning Entropy Production via Neural Networks
    Dong-Kyum Kim, Youngkyoung Bae, Sangyun Lee, and Hawoong Jeong
    Phys. Rev. Lett. Oct 2020
  17. JKPS
    Multi-label classification of historical documents by using hierarchical attention networks
    Dong-Kyum Kim, Byunghwee Lee, Daniel Kim, and Hawoong Jeong
    Journal of the Korean Physical Society Oct 2020