Nivii Kalavakonda
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nkalavak.bsky.social
Nivii Kalavakonda
@nkalavak.bsky.social
260 followers 200 following 21 posts
Assistant Teaching Professor, Northeastern University (Robotics)
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Nivii Kalavakonda
npr.org
We interrupt your doomscroll to remind you that public media always plays music free of charge – and free of algorithmic involvement.

Though NPR has lost federal funding, we're committed to keep bringing you the arts because it is core to our mission.

To stand with us, donate here: n.pr/47jpe4d
October 28, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Nivii Kalavakonda
tmlrorg.bsky.social
As Transactions on Machine Learning Research (TMLR) grows in number of submissions, we are looking for more reviewers and action editors. Please sign up!

Only one paper to review at a time and <= 6 per year, reviewers report greater satisfaction than reviewing for conferences!
October 14, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Reposted by Nivii Kalavakonda
chronicleflask.katday.com
Daughter of Robin Williams, Zelda Williams 💔
zeldawilliams 20m From Create Mode •• Please, just stop sending me AI videos of Dad. Stop believing I wanna see it or that I'll understand, I don't and I won't. If you're just trying to troll me, I've seen way worse, i'll restrict and move on. But please, if you've got any decency, just stop doing this to him and to me, to everyone even, full stop. It's dumb, it's a waste of time and energy, and believe me, it's NOT what he'd want. To watch the legacies of real people be condensed down to 'this vaguely looks and sounds like them so that's enough, , just so other people can churn out horrible TikTok slop puppeteering them is maddening. You're not making art, you're making disgusting, over-processed hotdogs out of the lives of human beings, out of the history of art and music, and then shoving them down someone else's throat hoping they'll give you a little thumbs up and like it. Gross. And for the love of EVERYTHING, stop calling it 'the future. Al is just badly recycling and regurgitating the past to be reconsumed. You are taking in the Human Centipede of content, and from the very very end of the line, all while the folks at the front laugh and laugh, consume and consume.
October 6, 2025 at 8:45 PM
nkalavak.bsky.social
🤣🤣🤣
louisbarclay.bsky.social Louis Barclay @louisbarclay.bsky.social · Sep 11
Q. Who aligns the aligners?
A. alignmentalignment.ai

Today I’m humbled to announce an epoch-defining event: the launch of the 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗜 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀.
Center for the Alignment of AI Alignment Centers
We align the aligners
alignmentalignment.ai
September 11, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Reposted by Nivii Kalavakonda
santiagokique.bsky.social
Terence Tao (@teorth.bsky.social) has written a thread on Mastodon about the impact of the federal grant freeze to UCLA, particularly to his own field of Mathematics. UCLA's IPAM (Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics) could shut down entirely

mathstodon.xyz/@tao/1149568...
Terence Tao (@[email protected])
The current administration in the US has, through various funding agencies such as the NSF and NIH, has recently suspended virtually all federal grants to my home university, UCLA (including my own p...
mathstodon.xyz
August 2, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Reposted by Nivii Kalavakonda
nparikh.org
There may be some tiny opening to save the NSF funding. It is worth calling your Senators. This is a big deal if it can be saved.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
US senators poised to reject Trump’s proposed massive science cuts
Committee gives first hint that policymakers might preserve, rather than slash, funding for US National Science Foundation and other agencies.
www.nature.com
July 12, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Reposted by Nivii Kalavakonda
rcalo.bsky.social
My new book Law and Technology: A Methodical Approach is available for pre-order ($40) over at Oxford University Press. The book explores what scholars and society can do about emerging technology. global.oup.com/academic/pro... (new link)
July 8, 2025 at 2:54 PM
nkalavak.bsky.social
Join us this Wednesday to hear from Brittany Cates on Modeling lies and deception in artificial agents... Registration link for zoom details available below
talkingrobotics.bsky.social talkingrobotics.bsky.social @talkingrobotics.bsky.social · Jul 7
Hear from Brittany Cates at Talking Robotics #84 on Wednesday to learn about Trust Issues in Artificial Agents!

📅 Schedule: July 09| 09:00 PDT | 18:00 CEST
💻 Zoom registration: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
📄Details: talking-robotics.github.io/talks/britta...

#robotics #AI #trustworthyAI
July 7, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Reposted by Nivii Kalavakonda
lagrassa.bsky.social
Hello! I and some colleagues are running a @blackinrobotics.bsky.social virtual workshop on July 13th where participants learn basic computer programming by writing code to move a robot arm!

Sign-up at www.eventbrite.com/e/beginning-...

#stemeducation #Robotics #python #coding
July 7, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Reposted by Nivii Kalavakonda
talkingrobotics.bsky.social
Catch Emile Kroeger discuss about social robots in the wild at Talking Robotics #83 tomorrow!
📅 Schedule: Jun 25 | 09:00 EDT | 12:00 EST | 18:00 CEST
💻 Zoom - free registration required: bit.ly/talkingrobot...
📄Details: talking-robotics.github.io/talks/emile_...

#robotics #socialrobots #AI
June 24, 2025 at 3:05 PM
nkalavak.bsky.social
We have Maria Pozzi from University of Siena joining us on June 11th for Talking Robotics #82. Join us to hear more about her research on soft robotics and manipulation. Register (free) for zoom info at the link below
talkingrobotics.bsky.social talkingrobotics.bsky.social @talkingrobotics.bsky.social · Jun 6
🤖 Next Talking Robotics episode: Maria Pozzi from
@UniSiena
discussing soft robotics & embodied intelligence in manipulation!
📅 June 11 | 12:00 EST | 18:00 CET 💻 Online - Free registration required
📝 Register: bit.ly/43PlHZu
#Robotics #SoftRobotics #TalkingRobotics
June 6, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Reposted by Nivii Kalavakonda
davidimiller.bsky.social
9/ 🚨🚨🚨 CALL TO ACTION

Call your elective representatives to tell them how these draconian cuts will directly harm (as applicable):

your state
your local communities
your trainees
yourself

See the #SaveNSF website for some inspiration:

www.savensf.com/take-action
Tools to Take Action
May 30, 2025 at 11:16 PM
nkalavak.bsky.social
May 31, 2025 at 7:01 AM
nkalavak.bsky.social
Join us next week to hear Ravi's talk on Influence-Aware safety. Register at the link below.
talkingrobotics.bsky.social talkingrobotics.bsky.social @talkingrobotics.bsky.social · May 29
Please join us next week for Talking Robotics #81: Ravi Pandya, CMU

🤖Title: Influence-Aware Safety for Human-Robot Interaction
📅 04 June (Wednesday), 2025 - 09:00 PDT/12:00 EDT/18:00 CEST
💻 Register for Zoom link: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
May 29, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Reposted by Nivii Kalavakonda
rcalo.bsky.social
Call for community fellows at the Center for an Informed Public www.cip.uw.edu/2025/05/27/c...
CIP accepting applications for Community Fellowship 2025-26 cohort
The University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public is accepting applications for the CIP Community Fellowship program’s 2025-26 cohort through June 20.
www.cip.uw.edu
May 28, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by Nivii Kalavakonda
roboticsscisys.bsky.social
📢 Check out the list of accepted papers for Robotics: Science and Systems 2025: roboticsconference.org/program/pape...

📜 You can also find the complete conference program here: roboticsconference.org/program/over...

🌴 We look forward to seeing you at #RSS2025 in Los Angeles June 21st-25th!
Accepted Papers | Robotics: Science and Systems
RSS 2025, June 21, 2025 - June 25, 2025, Los Angeles, California
roboticsconference.org
May 17, 2025 at 5:27 AM
Reposted by Nivii Kalavakonda
blackinrobotics.bsky.social
🚨 It’s baaaack! 5 yrs strong, the Black in Robotics Summer Workshop Series is 🔥
Dive into hands-on Zoom sessions on #AI, #Python, #Drones, #Robotics & more 💥
Led by dope experts. Free. Fun. Future-focused.
🎯 Sign up: black-in-robotics.eventbrite.com
#BlackInRobotics 🚀
May 16, 2025 at 5:56 AM
Reposted by Nivii Kalavakonda
scott-delaney.bsky.social
My ongoing request:

If your NSF or NIH grant was terminated--whether at Harvard or elsewhere--please report it here.

NSF: grant-watch.us/submit-nsf.h...

NIH: grant-watch.us/submit-nih.h...

Our trackers are actively used in lawsuits and are often the only record that terminations ever occurred.
dangaristo.bsky.social Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · May 14
NSF appears to be terminating hundreds of its grants to Harvard, per internal sources at NSF and at Harvard. At least one division has had all its grants cut.
May 14, 2025 at 2:22 PM
nkalavak.bsky.social
Talk abstract and speaker bio: talking-robotics.github.io/talks/qianhu...

@talkingrobotics.bsky.social
May 14, 2025 at 1:18 AM
nkalavak.bsky.social
Talking Robotics #80: Qianhui Men, Univ. of Bristol

🤖Title: Multimodal AI for Healthcare Decision-Making: Integrating Visual and Motion Guidance in Fetal Ultrasound Navigation
📅 14 May'25 (Tomorrow) - 09 AM PDT
💻 Register for Zoom link: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

@talkingrobotics.bsky.social
May 14, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Reposted by Nivii Kalavakonda
npr.org
You count on the NPR Network. THANK YOU to our supporters who are showing we can count on you too.

If you haven’t given yet, it’s time to join the movement to defend public media.

Donate now: n.pr/3EYClNR
May 12, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Reposted by Nivii Kalavakonda
standupforscience.bsky.social
HAPPY 75th, NSF!

We’re celebrating this milestone by highlighting some of NSF’s most transformative accomplishments—innovations that have shaped our world and continue to drive progress in health, technology, the environment, and beyond.

Read on 🧵(1/11):
A chocolate cake with red and white decorations and lit candles shaped as the number 75. Bold text reads: ‘The NSF Turns 75 Today. What has it done over the past 7 decades?’ The background is a celebratory red with a spray-paint texture.
May 10, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Nivii Kalavakonda
rl-theory.bsky.social
Last seminars before the summer break:

04/29: Max Simchowitz (CMU)
05/06: Jeongyeol Kwon (Univ. of Widsconsin-Madison)
05/20: Sikata Sengupta & Marcel Hussing (Univ. of Pennsylvania)
05/27: Dhruv Rohatgi (MIT)
06/03: David Janz (Univ. of Oxford)
06/10: Nneka Okolo (MIT)
April 16, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Reposted by Nivii Kalavakonda
natolambert.bsky.social
A couple years of weekly analysis, frontier research, and writing a small book on RLHF was pretty much a long winded lead up to writing this blog post. If nothing else, read it as a favor to me.
Sycophancy and the art of the model
GPT-4o-simp, LMArena backlash, and people refusing to understand how messy and crucial RLHF is.
buff.ly
May 4, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by Nivii Kalavakonda
charleswlogan.bsky.social
FYI: The Spencer Foundation, Kapor Foundation, The William T. Grant Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation have collaborated to offer $25K rapid response grants.

"This rapid response bridge funding opportunity is for scholars and teams whose grants have recently been cancelled by NSF."
Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program
In the face of recent abrupt shifts in federal funding for education research, including large-scale terminations of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant awards, we have developed a rap...
www.spencer.org
May 2, 2025 at 9:16 PM