Bastian Grossenbacher-Rieck
@pseudomanifold.topology.rocks
Dad · Geometry ∩ Topology ∩ Machine Learning
Professor at University of Fribourg
While geometry & topology may not save the world, they may well save something that is homotopy-equivalent to it.
🏠 https://bastian.rieck.me/
🏫 https://aidos.group
Professor at University of Fribourg
While geometry & topology may not save the world, they may well save something that is homotopy-equivalent to it.
🏠 https://bastian.rieck.me/
🏫 https://aidos.group
Big graph, little compute?
In our #NeurIPS2025 paper we propose geometry-aware edge-contraction-based pooling methods for GNNs.
Our methods preserve graph structure, make interpretable pooling choices, and ensure robust performance at downstream tasks.
🧵1/n
In our #NeurIPS2025 paper we propose geometry-aware edge-contraction-based pooling methods for GNNs.
Our methods preserve graph structure, make interpretable pooling choices, and ensure robust performance at downstream tasks.
🧵1/n
November 11, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Big graph, little compute?
In our #NeurIPS2025 paper we propose geometry-aware edge-contraction-based pooling methods for GNNs.
Our methods preserve graph structure, make interpretable pooling choices, and ensure robust performance at downstream tasks.
🧵1/n
In our #NeurIPS2025 paper we propose geometry-aware edge-contraction-based pooling methods for GNNs.
Our methods preserve graph structure, make interpretable pooling choices, and ensure robust performance at downstream tasks.
🧵1/n
November 10, 2025 at 10:18 AM
New blog post: Skills for the Future
A brief reflection on what skills may (hopefully) remain relevant in the new (hopefully bright) future of LLMs et al.
#AcademicWriting #AcademicChatter
bastian.rieck.me/blog/2025/sk...
A brief reflection on what skills may (hopefully) remain relevant in the new (hopefully bright) future of LLMs et al.
#AcademicWriting #AcademicChatter
bastian.rieck.me/blog/2025/sk...
Skills for the Future
bastian.rieck.me
November 5, 2025 at 8:46 AM
New blog post: Skills for the Future
A brief reflection on what skills may (hopefully) remain relevant in the new (hopefully bright) future of LLMs et al.
#AcademicWriting #AcademicChatter
bastian.rieck.me/blog/2025/sk...
A brief reflection on what skills may (hopefully) remain relevant in the new (hopefully bright) future of LLMs et al.
#AcademicWriting #AcademicChatter
bastian.rieck.me/blog/2025/sk...
Reposted by Bastian Grossenbacher-Rieck
Interesting application of ideas from topology to LLM training!
It's epoch 50. Do you know whether your LLM is grokking?
In our #NeurIPS2025 paper "Less is More: Local Intrinsic Dimensions of Contextual Language Models," we study how the local intrinsic dimension (LID) of embeddings changes during training and fine-tuning.
#research
🧵1/n
In our #NeurIPS2025 paper "Less is More: Local Intrinsic Dimensions of Contextual Language Models," we study how the local intrinsic dimension (LID) of embeddings changes during training and fine-tuning.
#research
🧵1/n
November 4, 2025 at 7:17 AM
Interesting application of ideas from topology to LLM training!
Reposted by Bastian Grossenbacher-Rieck
EurIPS student pricing is ending soon and I have a hunch that the other tickets might also sell out, so get yours now while supplies last!
IMPORTANT: Until Nov. 7th we have student discount tickets for NeurIPS authors and EurIPS (workshop) organizers, speakers and paper authors!
bsky.app/profile/euri...
bsky.app/profile/euri...
Out of these, 500 are student discount tickets priced at 170€. Some of these are reserved until November 7 for NeurIPS authors who want to present, as well as EurIPS organizers, speakers and paper authors. The rest are sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
November 4, 2025 at 11:58 AM
EurIPS student pricing is ending soon and I have a hunch that the other tickets might also sell out, so get yours now while supplies last!
It's epoch 50. Do you know whether your LLM is grokking?
In our #NeurIPS2025 paper "Less is More: Local Intrinsic Dimensions of Contextual Language Models," we study how the local intrinsic dimension (LID) of embeddings changes during training and fine-tuning.
#research
🧵1/n
In our #NeurIPS2025 paper "Less is More: Local Intrinsic Dimensions of Contextual Language Models," we study how the local intrinsic dimension (LID) of embeddings changes during training and fine-tuning.
#research
🧵1/n
November 3, 2025 at 3:32 PM
It's epoch 50. Do you know whether your LLM is grokking?
In our #NeurIPS2025 paper "Less is More: Local Intrinsic Dimensions of Contextual Language Models," we study how the local intrinsic dimension (LID) of embeddings changes during training and fine-tuning.
#research
🧵1/n
In our #NeurIPS2025 paper "Less is More: Local Intrinsic Dimensions of Contextual Language Models," we study how the local intrinsic dimension (LID) of embeddings changes during training and fine-tuning.
#research
🧵1/n
Want to generate point clouds? Our (w/ Ernst Röell) #NeurIPS2025 paper shows a topology-driven method that is fast, simple, and high-quality. 🔥
1/n
1/n
October 29, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Want to generate point clouds? Our (w/ Ernst Röell) #NeurIPS2025 paper shows a topology-driven method that is fast, simple, and high-quality. 🔥
1/n
1/n
Reposted by Bastian Grossenbacher-Rieck
Oh, you have criticisms of my paper? Surely you noticed the part of the paper where we already rebutted your critique, by writing “Possible criticisms: the methodology of this paper is bad. We are aware of this.”
September 30, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Oh, you have criticisms of my paper? Surely you noticed the part of the paper where we already rebutted your critique, by writing “Possible criticisms: the methodology of this paper is bad. We are aware of this.”
Reposted by Bastian Grossenbacher-Rieck
If you teach in higher education: You may be grappling with the existence of generative AI tools. I’ve landed on “they’re not going away, so I educate students and have them co-create their own class policy for use.” They do a wonderful job, and I once wrote up the process and results. #AcademicSky
Empowering Students in the Age of AI
Co-Creating Responsible Use Policies
chadtopaz.medium.com
September 11, 2025 at 12:24 PM
If you teach in higher education: You may be grappling with the existence of generative AI tools. I’ve landed on “they’re not going away, so I educate students and have them co-create their own class policy for use.” They do a wonderful job, and I once wrote up the process and results. #AcademicSky
Reposted by Bastian Grossenbacher-Rieck
Currently, on Hacker News.
August 28, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Currently, on Hacker News.
Reposted by Bastian Grossenbacher-Rieck
Will AI Replace Human Thinking? The Case for Writing and Coding Manually.
Will AI Replace Human Thinking? The Case for Writing and Coding Manually
Learning to Think Again, and the Cost of AI Dependency.
There are so many (hype/boring) posts about AI coming out every day. It’s OK to use it, and everyone does it, but still learn your craft, and tr...
www.ssp.sh
August 28, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Will AI Replace Human Thinking? The Case for Writing and Coding Manually.
Reposted by Bastian Grossenbacher-Rieck
(if you're really curious, we have a full github repo for the paper here: github.com/dkobak/low-d...)
GitHub - dkobak/low-dim-embeddings-review
Contribute to dkobak/low-dim-embeddings-review development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
August 27, 2025 at 1:33 PM
(if you're really curious, we have a full github repo for the paper here: github.com/dkobak/low-d...)
Reposted by Bastian Grossenbacher-Rieck
one of the more fun topics stemmed from a discussion with @hippopedoid.bsky.social over what the oldest 2D PCA visualization we could find was. After some scouring, we settled on a 1960 paper from researchers at the Université de Montréal about turtle carapaces, which we recreated.
August 27, 2025 at 1:32 PM
one of the more fun topics stemmed from a discussion with @hippopedoid.bsky.social over what the oldest 2D PCA visualization we could find was. After some scouring, we settled on a 1960 paper from researchers at the Université de Montréal about turtle carapaces, which we recreated.
Reposted by Bastian Grossenbacher-Rieck
Last year I met a bunch of great researchers who work with high-dimensional data at a Dagstuhl seminar. This week we put out a preprint about the history and philosophy of low-dimensional embedding methods, their applications, their challenges, and their possible future arxiv.org/abs/2508.15929
August 27, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Last year I met a bunch of great researchers who work with high-dimensional data at a Dagstuhl seminar. This week we put out a preprint about the history and philosophy of low-dimensional embedding methods, their applications, their challenges, and their possible future arxiv.org/abs/2508.15929
Reposted by Bastian Grossenbacher-Rieck
Hope you all had a good summer. I'm very happy to announce the speaker line-up for the falls Chalmers AI4Science seminars! Hope to catch you all there!
August 25, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Hope you all had a good summer. I'm very happy to announce the speaker line-up for the falls Chalmers AI4Science seminars! Hope to catch you all there!
New blog post: Consciousness Is Overrated Anyway (for AI)
In which I, somewhat coherently, try to contribute to the whole "Is AI Conscious" debate.
🔗 bastian.rieck.me/blog/2025/co...
#AI #MachineLearning
In which I, somewhat coherently, try to contribute to the whole "Is AI Conscious" debate.
🔗 bastian.rieck.me/blog/2025/co...
#AI #MachineLearning
August 24, 2025 at 8:50 PM
New blog post: Consciousness Is Overrated Anyway (for AI)
In which I, somewhat coherently, try to contribute to the whole "Is AI Conscious" debate.
🔗 bastian.rieck.me/blog/2025/co...
#AI #MachineLearning
In which I, somewhat coherently, try to contribute to the whole "Is AI Conscious" debate.
🔗 bastian.rieck.me/blog/2025/co...
#AI #MachineLearning
Reposted by Bastian Grossenbacher-Rieck
Should we still teach machine learning classes? Let me justify my existence.
Just When I Thought I Was Out
They pull me back in! Time to teach machine learning again.
www.argmin.net
August 22, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Should we still teach machine learning classes? Let me justify my existence.
Wonder when I'll reach the stage of my career where I just sign with an initial...
People who do that already, how cool do I have to be to join the club? 🥺
#AcademicSky #MathSky
People who do that already, how cool do I have to be to join the club? 🥺
#AcademicSky #MathSky
August 16, 2025 at 6:49 AM
Wonder when I'll reach the stage of my career where I just sign with an initial...
People who do that already, how cool do I have to be to join the club? 🥺
#AcademicSky #MathSky
People who do that already, how cool do I have to be to join the club? 🥺
#AcademicSky #MathSky
Reposted by Bastian Grossenbacher-Rieck
Come find me (and this lovely bin of recyclable pens) later today at 181! @cogcompneuro.bsky.social
August 15, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Come find me (and this lovely bin of recyclable pens) later today at 181! @cogcompneuro.bsky.social
Reposted by Bastian Grossenbacher-Rieck
Save the Date! ATMCS 12 is coming up fast, January 26-30, 2026, in Leipzig. More info at the link below, call for contributions coming soon!
www.mis.mpg.de/events/serie...
www.mis.mpg.de/events/serie...
Series
www.mis.mpg.de
August 14, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Save the Date! ATMCS 12 is coming up fast, January 26-30, 2026, in Leipzig. More info at the link below, call for contributions coming soon!
www.mis.mpg.de/events/serie...
www.mis.mpg.de/events/serie...
Reposted by Bastian Grossenbacher-Rieck
📢 Save the date!
Join us for the next @ellis.eu x UniReps Speaker Series!
📅 27th August – 16:00 CEST
📍https://ethz.zoom.us/j/66426188160
🎙️ Speakers: Keynote by @lelandmcinnes.bsky.social & Flash Talk by Yu (Demi) Qin
🔔 Stay updated by joining our Google group: groups.google.com/u/2/g/ellis-...
Join us for the next @ellis.eu x UniReps Speaker Series!
📅 27th August – 16:00 CEST
📍https://ethz.zoom.us/j/66426188160
🎙️ Speakers: Keynote by @lelandmcinnes.bsky.social & Flash Talk by Yu (Demi) Qin
🔔 Stay updated by joining our Google group: groups.google.com/u/2/g/ellis-...
August 14, 2025 at 7:58 AM
📢 Save the date!
Join us for the next @ellis.eu x UniReps Speaker Series!
📅 27th August – 16:00 CEST
📍https://ethz.zoom.us/j/66426188160
🎙️ Speakers: Keynote by @lelandmcinnes.bsky.social & Flash Talk by Yu (Demi) Qin
🔔 Stay updated by joining our Google group: groups.google.com/u/2/g/ellis-...
Join us for the next @ellis.eu x UniReps Speaker Series!
📅 27th August – 16:00 CEST
📍https://ethz.zoom.us/j/66426188160
🎙️ Speakers: Keynote by @lelandmcinnes.bsky.social & Flash Talk by Yu (Demi) Qin
🔔 Stay updated by joining our Google group: groups.google.com/u/2/g/ellis-...
🎥 Shapes, Spaces, Simplices, and Structure: Geometry, Topology & Machine Learning
"What if the answer to some problems in graph learning is not more, but better structure?"
This is the central premise of my talk @logml.bsky.social and @unireps.bsky.social.
🧵1/5
"What if the answer to some problems in graph learning is not more, but better structure?"
This is the central premise of my talk @logml.bsky.social and @unireps.bsky.social.
🧵1/5
August 7, 2025 at 3:56 PM
🎥 Shapes, Spaces, Simplices, and Structure: Geometry, Topology & Machine Learning
"What if the answer to some problems in graph learning is not more, but better structure?"
This is the central premise of my talk @logml.bsky.social and @unireps.bsky.social.
🧵1/5
"What if the answer to some problems in graph learning is not more, but better structure?"
This is the central premise of my talk @logml.bsky.social and @unireps.bsky.social.
🧵1/5
"SAFE TY FIRST"
Kerning. Once you know about it, your enjoyment of public signage will be ruined forever.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerning
Kerning. Once you know about it, your enjoyment of public signage will be ruined forever.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerning
August 6, 2025 at 4:04 PM
"SAFE TY FIRST"
Kerning. Once you know about it, your enjoyment of public signage will be ruined forever.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerning
Kerning. Once you know about it, your enjoyment of public signage will be ruined forever.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerning
Reposted by Bastian Grossenbacher-Rieck
Happy to announce I just defended my dissertation at Harvard and I’m now a PhD.
August 1, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Happy to announce I just defended my dissertation at Harvard and I’m now a PhD.
🇨🇭 Happy #SwissNationalDay! It's already a year since I started my new position @unifr.bsky.social and I'v had the good fortune to be living here since 2018. Thanks for everything, Switzerland! 🙏 Here's to the future! 🚀
August 1, 2025 at 12:38 PM
🇨🇭 Happy #SwissNationalDay! It's already a year since I started my new position @unifr.bsky.social and I'v had the good fortune to be living here since 2018. Thanks for everything, Switzerland! 🙏 Here's to the future! 🚀