Digest #2020.02.03 – AI-Created Medicine All Set for Human Trials

3 February 2020

Artificial intelligence-created medicine to be used on humans for first time – For the first time, a drug created by AI and Machine Learning has been approved for human trials. The drug was created by British start-up Exscientia in collaboration with Japanese pharmaceutical firm Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma. While typical drug development takes five years to get to trials, this drug took 12 months! The molecule AKA DSP-1181 was created by using algorithms that sifted through potential compounds, checking them against a huge database of parameters. The drug will be used to treat patients who have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

DIY object tracking system with TensorFlow – Thinking of a great machine learning project on your spare Raspberry Pi(s) + some DIY hardware? Check out this interesting tutorial to build a real-time object tracker using TensorFlow. The article walks you through setting up the hardware and the TensorFlow libraries needed to get you started with machine learning; it’s gonna be a fun weekend project!

Hyperparameter tuning with Keras Tuner – If your ML projects have struggled with hyperparameter tuning you need to try Keras Tuner. This article is a great way to get started with Keras Tuner with a step-by-step walkthrough. Also, it’s an open-source project so check out their Github repo if you’d like to report issues, changes or contribute.

OpenAI goes all-in on PyTorch – Elon Musk’s AI research firm announced that it will be moving to PyTorch for its new machine learning projects. Many of the projects and engineers at OpenAI are transitioning to PyTorch as their main framework.  “Going forward we’ll primarily use PyTorch as our deep learning framework but sometimes use other ones when there’s a specific technical reason to do so.” OpenAI is also expected to open-source its PyTorch binding for blocksparse kernels in the coming months.

Digest #2020.01.27 – Which Algorithm Should I Use?

27 January 2020

Using AI to Enrich Digital Maps – Your commute may now be saved from the road closures, private routes and diversions! Researchers at MIT and Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) have invented a model that could improve GPS navigation on digital maps.An interesting read about the research combining convolutional neural network (CNN) and graph neural network (GNN) to tag road features and predict the types of roads, lanes and obstruction along the route.

Solving Problems with TensorFlow – A good article on solving practical problems with TensorFlow. The article walks through solving an optimization problem, solving a linear regression problem, and a “Hello World” of Deep Learning classification projects with the MNIST Dataset. Check out for an interesting “getting started with tensorFlow” and train a neural network with visual representations and some fun.

Which Machine Learning Algorithm Should I Use? – One of the most common questions in the machine learning space; people are often confused about their ML needs and do not know the right qualifying questions to ask. The Microsoft team provides a walkthrough on how to decide the answer to which machine algorithm to use. It usually comes down to what are the requirements for your scenario? And, what do you want to do with your data?  There are some neat cheat sheets for reference.

Data Sampling Methods for Imbalanced Classification – At some point we’ve all probably been thrown off by over-optimistic performance of machine learning solutions. The author walks through the challenges of machine learning with imbalanced classifications, a tutorial on sampling techniques to handle skewed class distributions, and explanations of undersampling, oversampling and a hybrid of both. A well-put tutorial for learning!

Digest #2020.01.20 – Machine Learning for Music, Video, Weather…

20 January 2020

Microsoft NNI and Kubeflow – continued support and a way to tune hyperparameters – 

Microsoft released version 1.3 of their NNI project. NNI is Microsoft’s Neural Network Intelligence project, it lets you search for the best neural network architecture and hyperparameters. 

Microsoft NNI supports Kubeflow, where NNI can take the place of Katib, the native hyperparameter tuner in Kubeflow. While there are clear efficiency related benefits of using Kubernetes native Katib, for users that are using Azure Kubernetes, NNI now gives another option.

TensorFlow for Video Analytics – With the ever-increasing importance of object detection the application of machine learning is attracting a lot of interest. The article discusses how TensorFlow is used to identify objects like humans, puppies, faces, etc. The article is a good getting started tutorial for people looking to get their hands dirty with machine learning. 

Using Machine Learning for Weather Prediction – Machine learning being prevalent is not going to miss out on something as important as the weather! Check out this AI research piece from Google on how to improve weather forecasts with real-time data using machine learning compared to existing techniques with ~3 hours of latency. The improvements can lead to significantly better forecasts on weather events that are time-sensitive. You may be able to take that picnic in the sun without rain showers.

Spotify Personalization with Machine Learning – Ever wondered how Spotify gets most of the song recommendation on your Spotify Home right? With machine learning, yes! Spotify engineering delivers and improves its recommendation system using a standardized ML framework including TensorFlow Extended, Kubeflow and the Google Cloud Platform Ecosystem. There is also a presentation by Tony Jebara on the topic that can be viewed here.

Digest #2020.01.13 –Machine Learning and AI 2020

13 January 2020

Architecture for MLOps using TFX, Kubeflow Pipelines, and Cloud Build – If you’re a data scientist or an enthusiast and have been wanting to try the TFX (TensorFlow Extended), this article is a good place to start. The article also helps guide through setting up CI/CD and CT ( Continuous Training) using Kubeflow Pipelines and Cloud Build. Learn about MLOps, pipelines and taking your deployments to the cloud.

TensorFlow 2.1.0 is here – A new update to TensorFlow is out, welcome 2.1.0! The new version comes with new features and improvements, Pip packages become even more useful. There might be some breaking changes outlined in the release that could affect some users. And a whole lot of bug fixes. For a complete list, check out the Github Release docs. Oh, and also, goodbye Python 2! “TensorFlow 2.1 will be the last TF release supporting Python 2”

Is Deep Learning the same as Machine Learning? – Both Machine Learning and Deep Learning forms of AI have a lot of similarities and are often used interchangeably. However, they are not really the same and have a few subtle differences, deep learning performs much better at object recognition for example. The article dives deeper into the similarities, differences and applications of the two AI technologies.

AI Trends to watch for in 2020 – Artificial Intelligence was one of the top technologies of the last decade. AI set quite a few trends that we’ve witnessed and the streak is expected to continue in this decade. Forbes adds a list of trends to watch out for in 2020 in the field of AI. From AI helping on a more personal level to improved scientific discovery times and better entertainment check out the top 10 AI  trend predictions.

Digest #2019.12.16 – Artificial Intelligence of Things

23 December 2019

AI to Identify Unknown Civil War Soldiers – An interesting piece by Time on the use of Artificial Intelligence for facial recognition; the software calculates the difference between proportions of the face and facial portraits like the eyes to match an uploaded picture with picture available on the web. This allows matching of discoloured, disoriented and partially torn pictures with up to 80% accuracy. The software has identified more than 3300 photos and won the Microsoft Cloud AI Research Challenge.

Understand AI and ML better – AI-related search terms are gaining a lot of popularity and ranking amongst the top are artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP). These technologies, while similar are not exactly the same. Read more in the article to learn the basic differences between the technologies at an introductory level.

Artificial Intelligence Meets IoT – Two of the most widely discussed, researched and invested technologies of the decade are AI and IoT, but combining the two makes our devices, gadgets and digital life a whole lot powerful. Meet the Artificial Intelligence of (connected) Things. Examples of AIoT include the tech that enables Amazon’s Go stores, autonomous driving, fleet management, delivery drones, you know, all the cool things we’ve been waiting for!

Machine Learning Top Job for Developers – Data Science, AI and ML engineers, product managers and architects have dramatically taken over and conquered job postings across the globe. This momentum is shifting the tides of developer attitudes, gaining more traction in the field. New and experienced developers alike voted for AI, ML to be their field of interest. Most developers are trying to get their hands dirty with some form of development in the technologies. Even with all the new peaked interest, the number of open jobs hints that there’s a real shortage in the market. It’s a good time to be in this field!