This 86th episode of Learning Machines 101 discusses the problem of assigning probabilities to a possibly infinite set of outcomes in a space-time continuum which characterizes our physical world. Such a set is called an “environmental event”. The machine learning algorithm uses information about the frequency of environmental events to support learning. If we want to study statistical machine learning, then we must be able to discuss how to represent and compute the probability of an environmen...
Jul 20, 2021•35 min•Season 2Ep. 86
This 85th episode of Learning Machines 101 discusses formal convergence guarantees for a broad class of machine learning algorithms designed to minimize smooth non-convex objective functions using batch learning methods. In particular, a broad class of unsupervised, supervised, and reinforcement machine learning algorithms which iteratively update their parameter vector by adding a perturbation based upon all of the training data. This process is repeated, making a perturbation of the parameter ...
May 21, 2021•31 min•Season 2Ep. 85
In this episode of Learning Machines 101, we review Chapter 6 of my book “Statistical Machine Learning” which introduces methods for analyzing the behavior of machine inference algorithms and machine learning algorithms as dynamical systems. We show that when dynamical systems can be viewed as special types of optimization algorithms, the behavior of those systems even when they are highly nonlinear and high-dimensional can be analyzed. Learn more by visiting: www.learningmachines101.com and www...
Jan 05, 2021•33 min•Season 2Ep. 84
This particular podcast covers the material from Chapter 5 of my new book “Statistical Machine Learning: A unified framework” which is now available! The book chapter shows how matrix calculus is very useful for the analysis and design of both linear and nonlinear learning machines with lots of examples. We discuss how to use the matrix chain rule for deriving deep learning descent algorithms and how it is relevant to software implementations of deep learning algorithms. We also discuss how matr...
Aug 29, 2020•34 min•Season 2Ep. 83
The main focus of this particular episode covers the material in Chapter 4 of my new forthcoming book titled “Statistical Machine Learning: A unified framework.” Chapter 4 is titled “Linear Algebra for Machine Learning. Many important and widely used machine learning algorithms may be interpreted as linear machines and this chapter shows how to use linear algebra to analyze and design such machines. In addition, these same techniques are fundamentally important for the development of techniques ...
Jul 23, 2020•29 min•Season 2Ep. 82
This particular podcast covers the material in Chapter 3 of my new book “Statistical Machine Learning: A unified framework” with expected publication date May 2020. In this episode we discuss Chapter 3 of my new book which discusses how to formally define machine learning algorithms. Briefly, a learning machine is viewed as a dynamical system that is minimizing an objective function. In addition, the knowledge structure of the learning machine is interpreted as a preference relation graph which ...
Apr 09, 2020•37 min•Season 2Ep. 81
This particular podcast covers the material in Chapter 2 of my new book “Statistical Machine Learning: A unified framework” with expected publication date May 2020. In this episode we discuss Chapter 2 of my new book, which discusses how to represent knowledge using set theory notation. Chapter 2 is titled “Set Theory for Concept Modeling”.
Feb 29, 2020•32 min•Season 2Ep. 80
This particular podcast covers the material in Chapter 1 of my new (unpublished) book “Statistical Machine Learning: A unified framework”. In this episode we discuss Chapter 1 of my new book, which shows how supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement learning algorithms can be viewed as special cases of a general empirical risk minimization framework. This is useful because it provides a framework for not only understanding existing algorithms but also for suggesting new algorithms for specific...
Dec 24, 2019•26 min•Season 2Ep. 79
This particular podcast (Episode 78 of Learning Machines 101) is the initial episode in a new special series of episodes designed to provide commentary on a new book that I am in the process of writing. In this episode we discuss books, software, courses, and podcasts designed to help you become a machine learning expert! For more information, check out: www.learningmachines101.com
Oct 24, 2019•39 min•Season 2Ep. 78
In this 77th episode of www.learningmachines101.com , we explain the proper semantic interpretation of the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) and emphasize how this semantic interpretation is fundamentally different from AIC (Akaike Information Criterion) model selection methods. Briefly, BIC is used to estimate the probability of the training data given the probability model, while AIC is used to estimate out-of-sample prediction error. The probability of the training data given the model is ...
May 02, 2019•24 min•Season 1Ep. 77
In this episode, we explain the proper semantic interpretation of the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and the Generalized Akaike Information Criterion (GAIC) for the purpose of picking the best model for a given set of training data. The precise semantic interpretation of these model selection criteria is provided, explicit assumptions are provided for the AIC and GAIC to be valid, and explicit formulas are provided for the AIC and GAIC so they can be used in practice. Briefly, AIC and GAIC p...
Jan 23, 2019•28 min•Season 1Ep. 76
In this episode, we explore the question of what can computers do as well as what computers can’t do using the Turing Machine argument. Specifically, we discuss the computational limits of computers and raise the question of whether such limits pertain to biological brains and other non-standard computing machines. This episode is dedicated to the memory of my mom, Sandy Golden. To learn more about Turing Machines, SuperTuring Machines, Hypercomputation, and my Mom, check out: www.learningmachin...
Dec 12, 2018•36 min•Season 1Ep. 75
In this episode we will learn how to use “rules” to represent knowledge. We discuss how this works in practice and we explain how these ideas are implemented in a special architecture called the production system . The challenges of representing knowledge using rules are also discussed. Specifically, these challenges include: issues of feature representation, having an adequate number of rules, obtaining rules that are not inconsistent, and having rules that handle special cases and situations. ...
Jun 30, 2018•19 min•Season 1Ep. 74
This is a remix of the original second episode Learning Machines 101 which describes in a little more detail how the computer program that Arthur Samuel developed in 1959 learned to play checkers by itself without human intervention using a mixture of classical artificial intelligence search methods and artificial neural network learning algorithms. The podcast ends with a book review of Professor Nilsson’s book: “The Quest for Artificial Intelligence: A History of Ideas and Achievements” . For ...
Apr 25, 2018•25 min•Season 1Ep. 73
This podcast is basically a remix of the first and second episodes of Learning Machines 101 and is intended to serve as the new introduction to the Learning Machines 101 podcast series. The search for common organizing principles which could support the foundations of machine learning and artificial intelligence is discussed and the concept of the Big Artificial Intelligence Magic Show is introduced. At the end of the podcast, the book After Digital: Computation as Done by Brains and Machines by...
Mar 31, 2018•22 min•Season 1Ep. 72
In this podcast, we provide some insights into the complexity of common sense. First, we discuss the importance of building common sense into learning machines. Second, we discuss how first-order logic can be used to represent common sense knowledge. Third, we describe a large database of common sense knowledge where the knowledge is represented using first-order logic which is free for researchers in machine learning. We provide a hyperlink to this free database of common sense knowledge. Fourt...
Feb 23, 2018•32 min•Season 1Ep. 71
This 70th episode of Learning Machines 101 we discuss how to identify facial emotion expressions in images using an advanced clustering technique called Stochastic Neighborhood Embedding. We discuss the concept of recognizing facial emotions in images including applications to problems such as: improving online communication quality, identifying suspicious individuals such as terrorists using video cameras, improving lie detector tests, improving athletic performance by providing emotion feedbac...
Jan 31, 2018•32 min•Season 1Ep. 70
This 69th episode of Learning Machines 101 provides a short overview of the 2017 Neural Information Processing Systems conference with a focus on the development of methods for teaching learning machines rather than simply training them on examples. In addition, a book review of the book “Deep Learning” is provided. #nips2017
Dec 16, 2017•23 min•Season 1Ep. 69
This 68th episode of Learning Machines 101 discusses a broad class of unsupervised, supervised, and reinforcement machine learning algorithms which iteratively update their parameter vector by adding a perturbation based upon all of the training data. This process is repeated, making a perturbation of the parameter vector based upon all of the training data until a parameter vector is generated which exhibits improved predictive performance. The magnitude of the perturbation at each learning ite...
Sep 26, 2017•22 min•Season 1Ep. 68
In this episode we discuss how to learn to solve constraint satisfaction inference problems. The goal of the inference process is to infer the most probable values for unobservable variables. These constraints, however, can be learned from experience. Specifically, the important machine learning method for handling unobservable components of the data using Expectation Maximization is introduced. Check it out at: www.learningmachines101.com...
Aug 21, 2017•26 min•Season 1Ep. 67
In this episode of Learning Machines 101 ( www.learningmachines101.com ) we discuss how to solve constraint satisfaction inference problems where knowledge is represented as a large unordered collection of complicated probabilistic constraints among a collection of variables. The goal of the inference process is to infer the most probable values of the unobservable variables given the observable variables. Specifically, Monte Carlo Markov Chain ( MCMC ) methods are discussed....
Jul 17, 2017•34 min•Season 1Ep. 66
In this episode rerun we introduce the concept of gradient descent which is the fundamental principle underlying learning in the majority of deep learning and neural network learning algorithms. Check out the website: www.learningmachines101.com to obtain a transcript of this episode!
Jun 19, 2017•30 min•Season 1Ep. 65
In this rerun of episode 24 we explore the concept of evolutionary learning machines. That is, learning machines that reproduce themselves in the hopes of evolving into more intelligent and smarter learning machines. This leads us to the topic of stochastic model search and evaluation. Check out the blog with additional technical references at: www.learningmachines101.com
May 15, 2017•28 min•Season 1Ep. 64
This 63rd episode of Learning Machines 101 discusses how to build reinforcement learning machines which become smarter with experience but do not use this acquired knowledge to modify their actions and behaviors. This episode explains how to build reinforcement learning machines whose behavior evolves as the learning machines become increasingly smarter. The essential idea for the construction of such reinforcement learning machines is based upon first developing a supervised learning machine. T...
Apr 20, 2017•22 min•Season 1Ep. 63
This 62nd episode of Learning Machines 101 ( www.learningmachines101.com ) discusses how to design reinforcement learning machines using your knowledge of how to build supervised learning machines! Specifically, we focus on Value Function Reinforcement Learning Machines which estimate the unobservable total penalty associated with an episode when only the beginning of the episode is observable. This estimated Value Function can then be used by the learning machine to select a particular action i...
Mar 19, 2017•31 min•Season 1Ep. 62
This is the third of a short subsequence of podcasts providing a summary of events associated with Dr. Golden’s recent visit to the 2015 Neural Information Processing Systems Conference. This is one of the top conferences in the field of Machine Learning. This episode reviews and discusses topics associated with the Introduction to Reinforcement Learning with Function Approximation Tutorial presented by Professor Richard Sutton on the first day of the conference. This episode is a RERUN of an ep...
Feb 23, 2017•29 min•Season 1Ep. 61
This 60th episode of Learning Machines 101 discusses how one can use novelty detection or anomaly detection machine learning algorithms to monitor the performance of other machine learning algorithms deployed in real world environments. The episode is based upon a review of a talk by Chief Data Scientist Ira Cohen of Anodot presented at the 2016 Berlin Buzzwords Data Science Conference. Check out: www.learningmachines101.com to hear the podcast or read a transcription of the podcast!...
Jan 23, 2017•30 min•Season 1Ep. 60
I discuss the concept of a “neural network” by providing some examples of recent successes in neural network machine learning algorithms and providing a historical perspective on the evolution of the neural network concept from its biological origins. For more details visit us at: www.learningmachines101.com
Dec 21, 2016•30 min•Season 1Ep. 59
In this 58th episode of Learning Machines 101, I’ll be discussing an important new scientific breakthrough published just last week for the first time in the journal Econometrics in the special issue on model misspecification titled “Generalized Information Matrix Tests for Detecting Model Misspecification” . The article provides a unified theoretical framework for the development of a wide range of methods for determining if a learning machine is capable of learning its statistical environment....
Nov 23, 2016•20 min•Season 1Ep. 58
In this 57th episode, we explain how to use unsupervised machine learning algorithms to catch internet criminals who try to steal your money electronically! Check it out at: www.learningmachines101.com
Oct 18, 2016•20 min•Season 1Ep. 57
