We present a system for quickly prototyping AI code for modeling social interaction among the simulated residents of a skyscraper. The system is built on top of a commercially released indie game but replaces its character AI with a general-purpose logic programming language. These two features together simplify the more tedious parts of creating prototype AI code from scratch, enabling more effort to be focused on the meatier parts of research.

With the proliferation of vendors, doing a machine learning platform comparison can be a dizzying process. But most of the features prized by users and experts come back to the platform's flexibility. "We just want to be able to pick the right tool for the right job," said Chris Robison, lead data scientist at Overstock.com. In a webinar hosted by Databricks, the San Francisco-based company offering managed Spark products, Robison described how his team uses Databricks' software to score site visitors on their propensity to purchase. This involves first taking raw web log data and attaching features to it.