Machine Learning Times
Machine Learning Times
EXCLUSIVE HIGHLIGHTS
How Generative AI Helps Predictive AI
 Originally published in Forbes, August 21, 2024 This is the...
4 Ways Machine Learning Can Perpetuate Injustice and What to Do About It
 Originally published in Built In, July 12, 2024 When ML...
The Great AI Myth: These 3 Misconceptions Fuel It
 Originally published in Forbes, July 29, 2024 The hottest thing...
Where FICO Gets Its Data for Screening Two-Thirds of All Card Transactions
 Originally published in The European Business Review, March 21,...

algorithms

Magic Numbers

 Originally published in Real Life Mag, May 12, 2022. Treating “the algorithm” as a kind of divine power misunderstands where algorithmic power comes from. When TikTok first began to amass media attention, a narrative about its “eerily accurate algorithm” became so popular it was almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. Users talked about its algorithm as if

The Movement to Hold AI Accountable Gains More Steam

 Originally published in Wired, Dec 2, 2021. A New York City law requires algorithms used in hiring to be “audited” for bias. It’s the first in the US—and part of a larger push toward regulation. Algorithms play...

A Tiny Tweak to Zomato’s Algorithm Led to Lost Delivery Riders, Stolen Bikes and Missed Wages

 Originally published in Rest of World, Oct 7, 2021 The Indian food delivery giant changed riders’ beats without warning, crashing their earnings and exposing some to crime. On September 30, around 60 delivery riders wearing the red...

Researchers: Instagram ‘Bullied’ Us Into Halting Algorithmic Research

 Originally published in Gizmodo, Aug 13, 2021. For the second week in a row, Facebook killed a project meant to shed light on its practices. A Berlin-based nonprofit studying the ways in which Instagram’s algorithm presents content...

Learning the Language of Viral Evolution and Escape

 Originally published in AAAS, Jan 15, 2021. Natural language predicts viral escape Viral mutations that evade neutralizing antibodies, an occurrence known as viral escape, can occur and may impede the development of vaccines. To predict which mutations...

Switchback Tests and Randomized Experimentation Under Network Effects at DoorDash

 Originally published in DoorDash Engineering Feb 13, 2018. To A/B or not to A/B, that is the question Overview On the Dispatch team at DoorDash, we use simulation, empirical observation, and experimentation to make progress towards our...

Inside TikTok’s Killer Algorithm

 TikTok Wednesday revealed some of the elusive workings of the prized algorithm that keeps hundreds of millions of users worldwide hooked on the viral video app. Why it matters: The code TikTok uses to pick your next...

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Classified Flying Object

 How Computer Vision Is Used To Classify Objects. Featuring in-depth explanations and interviews with AiBUY and Pensa Systems about their computer vision classification applications in retail and eCommerce. The Task Image classification is one of the fundamental...

Amazon Touts AI for Social Distancing Amid Worker Complaints

 Originally published in Wired.com, June 18, 2020 Facing criticism over workplace safety, the company is using cameras, sensors, and augmented reality to warn employees when they’re too close to one another. Covid-19 sent Amazon scrambling to adapt...

8 Things That Algorithms Can Do Better Than Humans

 We humans like to think that we are at the top of the evolutionary hierarchy. However, it is increasingly becoming clear that algorithms can execute some tasks better and more judiciously than humans can, or ever will...