All posts by igorperic
The Model Context Protocol (MCP): Navigating the Risks of a Rapidly Evolving AI Ecosystem
The landscape of artificial intelligence is constantly shifting, with new protocols and frameworks emerging to enhance the capabilities of large language models (LLMs). Among these advancements, the Model Context Protocol (MCP) has garnered significant attention, promising a standardized approach to connecting AI assistants with the vast amounts of data and tools that exist across various…
Why Does Reinforcement Learning Outperforms Offline Fine-Tuning? Generation-Verification Gap Explained
In the ever-evolving world of artificial intelligence, fine-tuning models to achieve optimal performance is a critical endeavor. We often find ourselves choosing between different methodologies, particularly when it comes to refining large language models (LLMs) or complex AI systems. Two primary approaches stand out: reinforcement learning (RL) and offline fine-tuning methods like Direct Preference Optimization…
How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge: Leveraging Influence When You Lack Authority
I’ve spent the last 8 years leading International investors to pour (literally) millions of dollars into a team of 20 people building tech products in my home country. My position was middle management, so I’ve seen both sides of the story – from one side I had a CEO and the board to report to,…
Zero Knowledge Proof – Chaum-Pedersen Protocol
Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKP) are a mechanism of computing a mathematically verifiable cryptographic proof of a true statement without actually revealing any amount of information about the statement other than it holds true. For instance, bank could use ZKP of your credit score to give you the loan without asking for your bank statements, ID,…
Cryptography tech fuelled by blockchain – ZKP, FHE, MPC, TEE
One key aspect of blockchain privacy is the trade-off between transparency and confidentiality. While transparency is a hallmark of blockchain, offering accountability and trust, it can compromise privacy in use cases like enterprise transactions and proprietary trading. This led me to explore and learn about technologies like Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs), Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), Multi-party…
What a month! 5 events, 8 awards and 10 new team mates
November was not supposed to be this tectonic and yet here I am, with a huge grin on my face, trying to let all of the impression sink in. This is the list of events I’ve participated in: Event Date Location Prize 1. NASA SpaceApp 2023 Challenge 16th of October 2023 Online – 2. European…
Creating my digital clone from Facebook messages using nanoGPT
As a software developer, I am always on the lookout for exciting new ways to use natural language processing (NLP) to enhance user experiences. Recently, I took on an interesting weekend project: creating a digital clone of myself based on the Facebook messages I’ve sent over the last three years. The idea was inspired by…
Rust – Fast manipulation of a vector behind a HashMap using RefCell
Let’s analyze a function which maintains some 3×1 f64 vectors for plotting. There are multiple vectors and each of them is behind an enum key of a HashMap. Hasmap is a member property of a struct, so it looks something like this: We have a function log_debug_data which will record the current position of a…
Rust’s Copy trait – An example of a Vec inside a struct
While implementing a very primitive molecular dynamics simulator from scratch in Rust, I have encountered an interesting corner case I believe is worth sharing with anyone learning Rust. Among other artifacts, I have set up a primitive model class for storing some information about a single Particle in a file particle.rs: Nothing fancy, just some…
Leetcode 2429 – Minimize XOR
Source: https://leetcode.com/problems/minimize-xor/ Problem statement Given two positive integers num1 and num2, find the integer x such that: x has the same number of set bits as num2, and The value x XOR num1 is minimal. Note that XOR is the bitwise XOR operation. Return the integer x. The test cases are generated such that x…