Multimodal Generative Engine Optimization: Rank Manipulation for Vision-Language Model Rankers
Researchers demonstrate a critical vulnerability in Vision-Language Models (VLMs) used for ranking and recommendation systems through Multimodal Generative Engine Optimization (MGEO), showing that adversaries can manipulate ranking decisions by combining imperceptible image perturbations with crafted text. This attack exploits the deep cross-modal knowledge coupling within VLMs, revealing fundamental weaknesses in how these models ground and apply multimodal information.