Our next meetup will be a series of presentations on hyperparameter optimization and how to use various software packages to find a set of optimal hyperparameters for your machine learning model. Model selection via hyperparameter optimization is an important part of machine learning and we will discuss both the very basic and sophisticated methods for tuning models. Speaker: Erin Craig Title: Hyperparameter Optimization: Grid Search and Bayesian Optimization Abstract: When building a model, how do you select its hyperparameters? Grid search and bayesian optimization are two common methods for hyperparameter optimization; each with its own set of strengths and drawbacks. We begin this talk with a brief overview of these two methods, and then look at a case study to compare results of manual tuning, grid search and Bayesian optimization when predicting 30-day readmission from electronic health records.

Although financial terms of the deal were not revealed, it's said that an undisclosed number of SalesPredict employees will be joining eBay's team, working out of the Israeli development center in Netanya, including SalesPredict chief executive Yaron Zakai-Or, who will be director of product management for technology, and chief technology officer Kira Radinsky, who's been named director of data science and the chief scientist for eBay in Israel. Founded in 2012, SalesPredict specializes in helping businesses grow revenue through analytics that identify ideal potential prospects, thereby improving conversion to actual customers. It follows similar moves, including its pickup of AI startup ExpertMaker in May. In a statement, Zakai-Or explained that by being a part of eBay, "we will help arm eBay sellers with more information about the value of items, ultimately helping to increase customer sales conversions." The inclusion of SalesPredict seems to match the second part of this strategic effort.

Artificial intelligence systems are built by humans using training data that one way or another comes from humans, optimized for goals that humans set. The classifications and actions AI systems take then affect humans. As we build machines to make our lives better and easier, it's always important to ask whose lives it's making better and in which ways. AI systems are not free from ideology and ethics. Most optimistically, working on these systems can teach us more about all of the different ways to be human.

Which authors of this paper are endorsers? Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)

There are three buckets of jobs right now, and each one will be affected by artificial intelligence.

AlphaGo's uncanny success at the game of Go was taken by many as a death knell for the dominance of the human intellect, but Google researcher David Silver doesn't see it that way. Instead, he sees a world of potential benefits. As one of the lead architects behind Google DeepMind's AlphaGo system, which defeated South Korean Go champion Lee Se-dol 4 games to 1 in March, Silver believes the technology's next role should be to help advance human health. "We'd like to use these technologies to have a positive impact in the real world," he told an audience of AI researchers Tuesday at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in New York. With more possible board combinations than there are atoms in the universe, Go has long been considered the ultimate challenge for AI researchers.

Ever since the industrial revolution, there are those among the working class who have held a fear of machines, and their potential to take away the jobs of humans. With the advent of the Internet of Things, connected smart machines have advanced to a stage where similar fears are resurfacing and some of them may be valid. Many are asking themselves, could a machine do their job? Perhaps the question that is much more appropriate, is whether machines will be taking jobs, in the near future? What Do Industry Insiders Think About Smart Machines and Their Potential? Smart machines that are connected to IoT infrastructure are becoming more common in every industry.

We've previously reported how AI is developing rapidly and gaining the ability to do things like defeat human champions at the game of Go, describe photos in words for vision-impaired users, detect cyber attacks and even write novels and financial reports. That's old hat – there's now an AI that can write screenplays. It's named itself Benjamin and its first film, a sci-fi short, has just been released on YouTube for the world to enjoy. Our new event for New York is focused on quality, not quantity. 'Sunspring' was directed by Oscar Sharp and stars Silicon Valley's Thomas Middleditch.

A version of this essay was originally published at Tech.pinions, a website dedicated to informed opinions, insight and perspective on the tech industry. The more I think about the recent breakthroughs in machine learning and deep learning algorithms, the more I think we are finally heading toward a smarter software future. Our smartphones are really not that smart when it comes to the intelligence equation. That is about to change. For years, I had been writing about the need for better predictive intelligence in our software.

In the pixelated cube world of "Minecraft," players can create almost anything their hearts desire. Now, Microsoft is using the popular world-building game to build and test artificial intelligence in the fictional environment. Microsoft has made a platform for artificial intelligence (AI) research using a modified version of "Minecraft" that will become available to the public following a limited release to select researchers. Project Malmo (formerly known as Project AIX) allows anyone from ambitious amateur coders to advanced computer scientists to build and test artificial intelligence in the "Minecraft" environment. "We?re trying to put out the tools that will allow people to make progress on those really, really hard research questions," Katja Hofmann, the project's lead researcher, said in a Microsoft blog post announcing the release.