Isaac Thani

How do you #createvalue?

[Isaac Thani @isaacthani]

A Tale of Twos:
{Thread}...

[Imade. @ImadeIyamu]

Amazon Research Awards - Grants for researchers working on agentic AI, robotics, AI security, ML infrastructure, etc. Open globally.

Awards are structured as unrestricted grants & recipients also get AWS credits and access to Amazon scientists

Deadline: May 6, 2026
https://t.co/fJBf9qYfaC

[Zhuoran Yang @zhuoran_yang]

I transformed hand-written notes from the other two courses I've taught into web lecture notes.

Intro to optimization: https://t.co/cZVz7J3LMU
Advanced optimization: https://t.co/1tjpuxmq7g

AI-generated figures still need careful human review — titles overlapping plots, perpendicular lines that aren't actually perpendicular, etc. But Claude can finally get things right after a few trials.

And it can simple interactive demos on webpages, e.g., comparing convergence of first-order methods on Beale Function.

[Chenhao Tan @ChenhaoTan]

This quarter I am teaching a new course titled Large Language Models. The focus is on interpretability, alignment, and agents.

All the course materials are public: https://t.co/uemYxe6a4T.

I have been procrastinating for three weeks for this post, but hope that the materials are useful!

[Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa @S_OkudzetoAblak]

Facts you should know about the historic Ghana-led UN Resolution declaring transatlantic slavery as the gravest crime against humanity:

[RecruitmentPQ @RecruitmentPq]

Kuda laid off hundreds of employees this week in a restructuring exercise

19 of 40 marketing employees alone were let go on a video call with no prior warning. The company says it is not a financial decision and their numbers actually look better than ever. Losses dropped from $35 million to $5.8 million in one year.

They were profitable and still let people go. Good performance does not protect your job, always remember that employment is a contract that either party can end.

[Isaac Thani @isaacthani]

Wow

[Yann LeCun @ylecun]

Unveiling our new startup Advanced Machine Intelligence (AMI Labs).
We just completed our seed round: $1.03B / 890M€, one the largest seeds ever, probably the largest for a European company.
We're hiring!

[the background image is the Veil Nebula - a picture I took from my backyard, most appropriate for an unveiling]

More details here:
https://t.co/eWHyGLXwCA

[Isaac Thani @isaacthani]

Nouveau niveau débloqué 💯

[WIRED @WIRED]

Meta’s former chief AI scientist has long argued that human-level AI will come from mastering the physical world, not language. His new startup, AMI, plans to prove it. https://t.co/jCFpoorFOn

[Isaac Thani @isaacthani]

Great!

[Alex Onyia @winexviv]

South East Maths Olympiad Mock exam is currently ongoing in the 5 South Eastern States.

We have 10,990 children participating in competition across the 5 South Eastern States.

This is by far the largest academic event in the region.

Main exam is on Saturday and 100% CBT.

[African Computer Vision Summer School @ACVSS_AI]

Thrilled to announce the 3rd African Computer Vision Summer School (ACVSS)
👉https://t.co/twLo50XhEb
🎓Learn computer vision from the best scientists
🌍Google, Accra, Ghana
📆July 19-29, 2026
🎓Apply before March 1st (full grants available)
❤️ Follow us
#ACVSS #computervision #ai

[Isaac Thani @isaacthani]

Yo!

[Tristan @Tristan0x]

This aired tonight to 1 billion people in China. A year ago these robots could barely wave a handkerchief, now they can do backflips and kung fu with nunchucks. Physical intelligence is the next frontier.

[Isaac Thani @isaacthani]

@IremboGov is a game changer! Congrats to the whole team!

[The New Times (Rwanda) @NewTimesRwanda]

Rwanda has won the Best Government Service in the World award at the GovTech Prize 2026, in recognition of @IremboGov, the country’s flagship digital platform enabling citizens to access hundreds of public services online.

https://t.co/FI1BNIkZna

[Anthony Farr @zellfarr]

And value creating persistence is the fuel of entrepreneurship.

[Humanoids daily @humanoidsdaily]

Meta's Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun offers a critical take on the humanoid robot boom.

Speaking at MIT, LeCun claimed the "big secret" of the industry is that current companies "have no idea" how to make their robots "smart enough to be generally useful."

He argues that while humanoids can be trained for narrow manufacturing tasks, a truly autonomous domestic robot is impossible without fundamental AI breakthroughs. For LeCun, this means moving beyond current generative models and toward "world model planning-type architectures"—systems that can learn to understand and predict the physical world.

The future of these billion-dollar startups, he says, depends entirely on this next wave of AI research.

[Isaac Thani @isaacthani]

@DatGirlAdun Inspiring story! Hard work still works even today. Congratulations

[Isaac Thani @isaacthani]

Pray for Sudan

[Cool_Ustaaz ☪ @Cool_Ustaz]

May Allah protect our brothers and sisters. 🇸🇩

[David Dao @dwddao]

Announcing AI for Public Goods Fast Grants (AI4PG) - Up to $10K for AI research improving public goods funding.

Fast review (2-3 weeks), simple applications (4 pages + 1 budget page), open to any researchers worldwide. Call for reviewers now open!

https://t.co/zUTezH1Afc

[Jeffrey Scholz @Jeyffre]

Almost half the researchers at RareSkills are from Nigeria.

If you can’t find good talent there, it’s a skill issue with recruitment, not a country problem.

[HNG💡 @hnginternship]

Registration for HNG13 is ongoing! Visit https://t.co/6wTEmBktt9 to register.

[Stephen James @stepjamUK]

𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲’𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 “𝗣𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗜" - the idea that we can simulate real-world environments so well that robots trained in simulation will work perfectly in reality.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲: Train in virtual worlds → deploy anywhere.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: I’ve seen too many teams fall into this trap.

After working with manipulation teams at Berkeley, Imperial, and Dyson, here’s the pattern:

• 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟭: “Our policy works perfectly in simulation!”
• 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝟰: “Why doesn’t this work on real objects?”
• 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵 𝟮: “We basically need to retrain from scratch with real data.”

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗽 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲:

Unlike blind locomotion policies that can get away with sim-to-real transfer because they rely mainly on proprioception and contact forces, 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗴𝗮𝗽𝘀.

• Real friction vs simulated surface textures
• Manufacturing tolerances vs perfect CAD models
• Dynamic lighting vs controlled virtual environments
• Sensor noise vs instantaneous virtual readings

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁: Building these detailed simulated environments takes forever. If it takes 7 days to build a simulated kitchen in simulation, wouldn't it be better to just collect real-world data in a real kitchen instead?

𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 - simulation is incredible for debugging, safety testing, and exploring edge cases. But it's not a magic solution to real-world deployment.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀: Use simulation strategically while making real-world data collection as efficient and flexible as possible.

This is why Neuracore focuses on streamlined real-world data infrastructure. Because no amount of virtual training can replace understanding how your robot actually behaves in actual environments.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆.

What’s been your experience with sim-to-real transfer?

[The Upanzi Network at CMU-Africa @upanzi_network]

5 days to go. picoCTF-Africa mini-CTF is happening from 01 to 15 Oct 2025. Beginner-friendly. Web, crypto, forensics, OSINT. Join up with your friends and form a team.

Register: https://t.co/CG8zIMA4Jr

#CybersecurityAwarenessMonth #CTF #picoCTF #CMUAfrica #AfricaTech