Abdoulaye Diack
@diack.bsky.social
Program Manager ML & AI @ Google Research | Ex-Google Brain. Speaker (FR/EN)
Abdoulaye.ai
Expert in cheese and coffee
🌍 Accra, Ghana
(cover photo: Dar Es Saalam, circa 2015)
Abdoulaye.ai
Expert in cheese and coffee
🌍 Accra, Ghana
(cover photo: Dar Es Saalam, circa 2015)
Pinned
Abdoulaye Diack
@diack.bsky.social
· Nov 30
We recently published an open source dataset of building footprints and height estimations for the Global South. It covers ~2 billion buildings and 8 years of data derived from Sentinel 2 imagery.
Blog: shorturl.at/S8ejc
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2310.11622
Dataset: shorturl.at/FHuQE
Blog: shorturl.at/S8ejc
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2310.11622
Dataset: shorturl.at/FHuQE
Floods in Mozambique. The blue zones on this map shows predictions of the flood impact.
IFRC is accepting donations: donate.redcrossredcrescent.org/ifrc/mozambi...
sites.research.google/floods/l/-24...
IFRC is accepting donations: donate.redcrossredcrescent.org/ifrc/mozambi...
sites.research.google/floods/l/-24...
January 26, 2026 at 10:29 AM
Floods in Mozambique. The blue zones on this map shows predictions of the flood impact.
IFRC is accepting donations: donate.redcrossredcrescent.org/ifrc/mozambi...
sites.research.google/floods/l/-24...
IFRC is accepting donations: donate.redcrossredcrescent.org/ifrc/mozambi...
sites.research.google/floods/l/-24...
Reposted by Abdoulaye Diack
People have been looking at "AI & brains" through the lens of LLMs/transformers. But what latent diffusion? (think text-to-image/video platforms such as Midjourney).
**Class conditioned latent diffusion and semantically cued hippocampus share a remarkably similar computational architecture...**
**Class conditioned latent diffusion and semantically cued hippocampus share a remarkably similar computational architecture...**
January 25, 2026 at 5:59 AM
People have been looking at "AI & brains" through the lens of LLMs/transformers. But what latent diffusion? (think text-to-image/video platforms such as Midjourney).
**Class conditioned latent diffusion and semantically cued hippocampus share a remarkably similar computational architecture...**
**Class conditioned latent diffusion and semantically cued hippocampus share a remarkably similar computational architecture...**
Africa is leapfrogging into a micro-EV revolution right now, the surprising thing is how fast it happened.
China's cheap electric cars are taking over seemingly everywhere—except the United States. That might be about to change, writes Patrick George.
Chinese Carmakers Are Closing In on America
The world is falling for China’s cheap electric cars. Is the United States next?
bit.ly
January 23, 2026 at 10:28 PM
Africa is leapfrogging into a micro-EV revolution right now, the surprising thing is how fast it happened.
Interesting post about hiring in 2026 which applies to other fields besides research. In summary Depth > Breadth
We just published an unofficial guide on what we look for when interviewing research candidates at Sakana AI.
Written by Stefania Druga, Luke Darlow, and Llion Jones.
The biggest differentiator? Understanding over implementation.
Read it: pub.sakana.ai/Unofficial_G...
Written by Stefania Druga, Luke Darlow, and Llion Jones.
The biggest differentiator? Understanding over implementation.
Read it: pub.sakana.ai/Unofficial_G...
January 23, 2026 at 2:25 PM
Interesting post about hiring in 2026 which applies to other fields besides research. In summary Depth > Breadth
Reposted by Abdoulaye Diack
The technical assessment is just a conversation starter. The real interview is about how you think.
We look for: → Hypothesis-driven reasoning → Clear communication → Honest acknowledgment of limitations → Genuine curiosity
We look for: → Hypothesis-driven reasoning → Clear communication → Honest acknowledgment of limitations → Genuine curiosity
January 20, 2026 at 1:40 AM
The technical assessment is just a conversation starter. The real interview is about how you think.
We look for: → Hypothesis-driven reasoning → Clear communication → Honest acknowledgment of limitations → Genuine curiosity
We look for: → Hypothesis-driven reasoning → Clear communication → Honest acknowledgment of limitations → Genuine curiosity
Reposted by Abdoulaye Diack
I founded Sakana AI after my time at Google, so it is incredibly meaningful to be able to partner with them now. It feels like a special connection to be working together again to advance the AI ecosystem in Japan.
sakana.ai/google#en
sakana.ai/google#en
We are thrilled to announce a strategic partnership with Google!
Google is also making a financial investment in Sakana AI to strengthen this collaboration. We are combining Google’s world-class products like Gemini and Gemma with our agile R&D to accelerate automated scientific discovery.
Google is also making a financial investment in Sakana AI to strengthen this collaboration. We are combining Google’s world-class products like Gemini and Gemma with our agile R&D to accelerate automated scientific discovery.
January 23, 2026 at 1:04 PM
I founded Sakana AI after my time at Google, so it is incredibly meaningful to be able to partner with them now. It feels like a special connection to be working together again to advance the AI ecosystem in Japan.
sakana.ai/google#en
sakana.ai/google#en
Reposted by Abdoulaye Diack
We wrote this piece i.e @gavinyamey.bsky.social and I, one year ago. Today the US is formally out of the WHO. Domestic public health is severely weakened as is global public health. A massive own goal that leaves us all less safe.
www.nejm.org/doi/abs/10.1...
www.nejm.org/doi/abs/10.1...
Withdrawal of the United States from the WHO — How President Trump Is Weakening Public Health | NEJM
Severing the long-standing ties and scientific collaborations between the United States
and the WHO and slashing U.S. financial support will have catastrophic effects on
both domestic and global he...
www.nejm.org
January 23, 2026 at 7:39 AM
We wrote this piece i.e @gavinyamey.bsky.social and I, one year ago. Today the US is formally out of the WHO. Domestic public health is severely weakened as is global public health. A massive own goal that leaves us all less safe.
www.nejm.org/doi/abs/10.1...
www.nejm.org/doi/abs/10.1...
Reposted by Abdoulaye Diack
NEW: I tracked all Chinese lithium battery factories announced or built in the past decade 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 China's borders. The truth is, companies like CATL & BYD are so technologically advanced that there's little international competition. European and Asian countries are welcoming them with open arms.
January 21, 2026 at 9:40 PM
NEW: I tracked all Chinese lithium battery factories announced or built in the past decade 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 China's borders. The truth is, companies like CATL & BYD are so technologically advanced that there's little international competition. European and Asian countries are welcoming them with open arms.
Reposted by Abdoulaye Diack
Introducing HiRO-ACE: an AI framework that makes highly detailed climate simulations dramatically more accessible. It generates decades of high-resolution precipitation data for any region in a day on a single GPU—no supercomputing cluster required. 🧵
January 21, 2026 at 7:34 PM
Introducing HiRO-ACE: an AI framework that makes highly detailed climate simulations dramatically more accessible. It generates decades of high-resolution precipitation data for any region in a day on a single GPU—no supercomputing cluster required. 🧵
I used Gemini-CLI to build an offline translation tool using TranslateGemma + Gemma 3 to extract & translate text from images. Excited about the African Languages support!
Framework: HF Transformers
Interface: Gradio
Runtime: Python / PyTorch
Framework: HF Transformers
Interface: Gradio
Runtime: Python / PyTorch
January 21, 2026 at 7:35 PM
I used Gemini-CLI to build an offline translation tool using TranslateGemma + Gemma 3 to extract & translate text from images. Excited about the African Languages support!
Framework: HF Transformers
Interface: Gradio
Runtime: Python / PyTorch
Framework: HF Transformers
Interface: Gradio
Runtime: Python / PyTorch
Could be worse with an unstable genius
January 19, 2026 at 6:45 PM
Could be worse with an unstable genius
Reposted by Abdoulaye Diack
Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She was 95.
Dr. Gladys West, Mathematician Whose Work Made GPS Possible, Dies at 95
ALEXANDRIA, VA — Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She passed away
thezebra.org
January 19, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She was 95.
Current situation and predictions for Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa
sites.research.google/floods/l/-23...
(Check official sources for floods information)
sites.research.google/floods/l/-23...
(Check official sources for floods information)
January 19, 2026 at 5:57 PM
Current situation and predictions for Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa
sites.research.google/floods/l/-23...
(Check official sources for floods information)
sites.research.google/floods/l/-23...
(Check official sources for floods information)
Reposted by Abdoulaye Diack
I used Claude Code to isolate the water sound from Salmon Run for Atari 800. I modded it to sound like rain, fed it into a twin-POKEY emulator and slept w/8-bit stereo rain sounds last night. Soothing!
The rain app isn't ready yet, but I have a disassembly of the game here: bxfoundry.com/salmonrun/
The rain app isn't ready yet, but I have a disassembly of the game here: bxfoundry.com/salmonrun/
Salmon Run - A Bill Williams Masterpiece
A technical deep-dive into Bill Williams' 1982 Atari 800 game, exploring how sound and gameplay were ingeniously intertwined. Full disassembly and analysis.
bxfoundry.com
January 19, 2026 at 3:25 PM
I used Claude Code to isolate the water sound from Salmon Run for Atari 800. I modded it to sound like rain, fed it into a twin-POKEY emulator and slept w/8-bit stereo rain sounds last night. Soothing!
The rain app isn't ready yet, but I have a disassembly of the game here: bxfoundry.com/salmonrun/
The rain app isn't ready yet, but I have a disassembly of the game here: bxfoundry.com/salmonrun/
Reposted by Abdoulaye Diack
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. dedicated his life fighting for equity and justice. He taught us that even in the face of intimidation and discrimination, we must never stop working towards a better future – a lesson that feels especially relevant today.
January 19, 2026 at 2:01 PM
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. dedicated his life fighting for equity and justice. He taught us that even in the face of intimidation and discrimination, we must never stop working towards a better future – a lesson that feels especially relevant today.
Reposted by Abdoulaye Diack
COW TOOLS www.cell.com/current-biol...
Flexible use of a multi-purpose tool by a cow
Osuna-Mascaró and Auersperg report flexible, multipurpose tool use in a cow, expanding
the known range of mammalian tool users and underscoring overlooked cognitive capacities
in livestock.
www.cell.com
January 19, 2026 at 4:48 PM
COW TOOLS www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Abdoulaye Diack
arxiv.org/abs/2601.11432
I want to share an astonishing result. LLMs can "translate" Jabberwocky' texts like 'He dwushed a ghanc zawk” & even and even 'In the BLANK BLANK, BLANK BLANK has BLANK over any BLANK BLANK’s BLANK' This has profound consequence for thinking about.. 1/2
I want to share an astonishing result. LLMs can "translate" Jabberwocky' texts like 'He dwushed a ghanc zawk” & even and even 'In the BLANK BLANK, BLANK BLANK has BLANK over any BLANK BLANK’s BLANK' This has profound consequence for thinking about.. 1/2
arxiv.org
January 19, 2026 at 3:27 AM
arxiv.org/abs/2601.11432
I want to share an astonishing result. LLMs can "translate" Jabberwocky' texts like 'He dwushed a ghanc zawk” & even and even 'In the BLANK BLANK, BLANK BLANK has BLANK over any BLANK BLANK’s BLANK' This has profound consequence for thinking about.. 1/2
I want to share an astonishing result. LLMs can "translate" Jabberwocky' texts like 'He dwushed a ghanc zawk” & even and even 'In the BLANK BLANK, BLANK BLANK has BLANK over any BLANK BLANK’s BLANK' This has profound consequence for thinking about.. 1/2
Reposted by Abdoulaye Diack
New #AIFS blog: with colleagues from Ghent University/RMI, we examine how training strategies affect tropical cyclone forecasts in machine-learning weather models. ➡️ www.ecmwf.int/en/about/med...
January 19, 2026 at 3:06 PM
New #AIFS blog: with colleagues from Ghent University/RMI, we examine how training strategies affect tropical cyclone forecasts in machine-learning weather models. ➡️ www.ecmwf.int/en/about/med...
"Two things are both true to me right now: AI agents are amazing and a huge productivity boost. They are also massive slop machines if you turn off your brain and let go completely"
Weekend thoughts on Gas Town, Beads, slop AI browsers, and AI-generated PRs flooding overwhelmed maintainers. I don't think we're ready for our new powers we're wielding. lucumr.pocoo.org/2026/1/18/ag...
Agent Psychosis: Are We Going Insane?
What’s going on with the AI builder community right now?
lucumr.pocoo.org
January 19, 2026 at 8:55 AM
"Two things are both true to me right now: AI agents are amazing and a huge productivity boost. They are also massive slop machines if you turn off your brain and let go completely"
Let’s go! Senegal are the Champions of Africa! 🇸🇳⚽
January 18, 2026 at 10:09 PM
Let’s go! Senegal are the Champions of Africa! 🇸🇳⚽
MedGemma 1.5-4B is multimodal, so I ran a test (Python/Gradio) to assess medical sketches offline. Setup took <30 mins using the Gemini-cli.
Interesting potential for multimodal feedback in connectivity-limited areas. 🩺💻
Blog: research.google/blog/next-ge...
Model: huggingface.co/google/medge...
Interesting potential for multimodal feedback in connectivity-limited areas. 🩺💻
Blog: research.google/blog/next-ge...
Model: huggingface.co/google/medge...
January 17, 2026 at 11:29 PM
MedGemma 1.5-4B is multimodal, so I ran a test (Python/Gradio) to assess medical sketches offline. Setup took <30 mins using the Gemini-cli.
Interesting potential for multimodal feedback in connectivity-limited areas. 🩺💻
Blog: research.google/blog/next-ge...
Model: huggingface.co/google/medge...
Interesting potential for multimodal feedback in connectivity-limited areas. 🩺💻
Blog: research.google/blog/next-ge...
Model: huggingface.co/google/medge...
Holy Batman (sound on)
📍Accra, Ghana Military Hospital
📍Accra, Ghana Military Hospital
January 17, 2026 at 9:17 PM
Holy Batman (sound on)
📍Accra, Ghana Military Hospital
📍Accra, Ghana Military Hospital
Reposted by Abdoulaye Diack
The growth of Paris from 250 AD to the present day in 3 minutes.
🔎 CITY 3D TIMELAPSE
🔎 CITY 3D TIMELAPSE
January 17, 2026 at 8:15 AM
The growth of Paris from 250 AD to the present day in 3 minutes.
🔎 CITY 3D TIMELAPSE
🔎 CITY 3D TIMELAPSE
Stunning pictures
The scale of China's clean energy buildout is difficult to fathom. Check out these pictures.
Photos Capture the Breathtaking Scale of China's Wind and Solar Buildout
e360.yale.edu
January 16, 2026 at 9:36 PM
Stunning pictures
Meet TranslateGemma. 💎
✅ Open weights (4B, 12B, 27B)
✅ 55 languages + 100s more in training data
✅ Multimodal capabilities (image text)
Blog: blog.google/innovation-a...
Paper: arxiv.org/pdf/2601.09012
Model: huggingface.co/collections/...
Cookbook: colab.research.google.com/github/googl...
✅ Open weights (4B, 12B, 27B)
✅ 55 languages + 100s more in training data
✅ Multimodal capabilities (image text)
Blog: blog.google/innovation-a...
Paper: arxiv.org/pdf/2601.09012
Model: huggingface.co/collections/...
Cookbook: colab.research.google.com/github/googl...
TranslateGemma: A new suite of open translation models
TranslateGemma is a new family of open translation models built on Gemma 3.
blog.google
January 16, 2026 at 7:50 PM
Meet TranslateGemma. 💎
✅ Open weights (4B, 12B, 27B)
✅ 55 languages + 100s more in training data
✅ Multimodal capabilities (image text)
Blog: blog.google/innovation-a...
Paper: arxiv.org/pdf/2601.09012
Model: huggingface.co/collections/...
Cookbook: colab.research.google.com/github/googl...
✅ Open weights (4B, 12B, 27B)
✅ 55 languages + 100s more in training data
✅ Multimodal capabilities (image text)
Blog: blog.google/innovation-a...
Paper: arxiv.org/pdf/2601.09012
Model: huggingface.co/collections/...
Cookbook: colab.research.google.com/github/googl...