Malek Akram

robots and hands, PhD at Harada Lab Osaka University

[Andreas Kirsch 🇺🇦 @BlackHC]

Reading this, Alex really put in a superhuman effort to avert Google's signing of the Pentagon contract, including so many attempts to engage with senior leadership and stakeholders at Google and he even presented a *meaningful* policy proposal that was both lauded by experts yet also simply ignored 🤯

I admire his stamina and persistence to do the right thing and follow this through in the interest of DeepMind. I cannot imagine how difficult this must have been

So, continuing in my personal capacity, I shall say: a real shame that he was ignored and "left on read" by so many. (At best this is a collective failure of the organization.) Quite disappointing, because so many seem to care so deeply, and a different path should have been possible. Somehow the whole is not the sum of the parts here though

According to Alex' writing Demis was supportive in sign-posting, but:

> As I talked more with senior management, they kept arguing something like: “don’t worry. Leadership cares about these issues, too. They won’t sign an ‘all lawful use’ deal.”

If this is true, it raises the question: where is the personal responsiblity if you pretend it won't happen and then it happens? "Whoops, too bad, this is the status quo now" ought not to cut it when we build technology that is "akin to the discovery of electricity or fire" all over

I think this also provides a useful counter-factual for anyone claiming that one just needs to engage more with stakeholders and leadership and that people did not sufficiently pursue this. It seems Alex did. What difference it make?

Look how much was tried and yet how impotent "doing the right thing" and "don't be evil" are when facing... what exactly? Why are GDM so powerless compared to Anthropic? Is it the tight integration with Google and how much attack surface Google offers to governmental pressure? Where does this impotence come from?

The only conclusion I can come to is that UTAW's unionization effort is the best way to force Google & DeepMind to implement transparency and oversight in earnest and do the right the thing when leadership themselves seem not able to do so alone 🙏

[Cristian Beltrán @cambel07]

Our latest work on imitation learning for contact-rich manipulation with rigid robots! Thanks to the hard work of @mkakram @tatsukamijo @mh69543540 !
Check the supplementary video here: https://t.co/lMCv2gboOc

[Mathieu @miniapeur]

😎😎

[Mathieu @miniapeur]

😬😬

[Mark Tenenholtz @marktenenholtz]

Research papers should add a new section called “the intuitive reason we thought this would work”

There’s usually a simple, one or two sentence explanation that explains the fundamental idea behind the technique.

Most papers mask this idea pretty heavily, but once you understand it the paper becomes really easy to understand.

[Malek Akram @mkakram]

اردننا

[Taylor Luck يوسف لاك @Taylor_Luck]

"If signed into law, anyone could be held criminally liable for posting, reposting, or “liking” speech the government deems to fit these categories.

As of this writing, it is not clear whether this article would be criminalized."

#Jordan
@csmonitor https://t.co/i3JwJK8cBc

[ThePrimeagen @ThePrimeagen]

best way to describe pointers

[Mathieu @miniapeur]

😢😢

[😡fermion, PhD @angryfermion]

eigenvalues are a girls best friend

[Malek Akram @mkakram]

I think I need to touch grass

[Mathieu @miniapeur]

Topologists.

[Bayt Al Fann @BaytAlFann]

Did you know the Arabic language has an “abjad” system and not an alphabet?

The Arabic abjad is made up of 28 letters, written from right to left. All of the letters are consonants, since the vowels in Arabic are denoted by diacritics.

A thread on Arabic letters & language…

[Mathieu @miniapeur]

😬😬

[Malek Akram @mkakram]

@Muhamma56158861 U skip sehri

[Malek Akram @mkakram]

@ItsQubbaj Send merch

[Mathieu @miniapeur]

UK: why make life easier for students if we can make it harder?

'[UK] considering making major restrictions […] including reducing the time students can stay from 2 years to 6 months. […] alongside the ability of international students to bring their dependents [...].'

[Malek Akram @mkakram]

I just finished the game 😂, I knew it would happen

[FROMSOFTWARE @fromsoftware_pr]

『ELDEN RING』のDLC「Shadow of the Erdtree」を開発中です。続報はまだ少し先になりますが、ご期待いただければ幸いです。

[Malek Akram @mkakram]

@Muhamma56158861 lost my maiden along the way ...

[Malek Akram @mkakram]

it took me a year 😂, but I finally finished it and joined my fellow tarnished. cant wait for the dlc to come

[Malek Akram @mkakram]

Oooooooh finally #ELDENRING