FICO Artificial Intelligence Review

I was contracted by the FICO product marketing department to review their long term use of artificial intelligence (AI) for fraud, cybersecurity and compliance (AML) solutions. All three of these areas utilize machine learning and AI for anomaly detection. The flagship of this portfolio is the Falcon Fraud Platform, and is used by ~ 10,000 financial institutions to risk score approximately 9,000 payment card transactions/sec globally. I had a blast digging into all that FICO was doing with AI, and I came up with a summary document “5 Keys to Successfully Applying Machine Learning and AI in Enterprise Fraud Detection.” Here is a list of the 5 elements I focused on for the project:

• The role of supervised and unsupervised models in fraud detection (with a focus on behavior anomaly analytics)
• The importance of large data sets in model development and training
• What are predicting features and why is domain expertise necessary in their development
• The benefits of Specialized vs. Generic models in enterprise fraud (i.e., importance of expert features)
• The role of adaptive analytics and/or self-learning AI in enterprise fraud

You can download the report here: 5_Keys_Successfully_Applying_Machine_Learning_ AI

GPU Technology Conference 2017

I was very pleased to attend the GPU Technology Conference 2017 as the guest of host company NVIDIA on May 8-11 in Silicon Valley. This was my second GTC as I became acquainted with the GPU (graphics processing unit) universe last year while attending the conference. You can read my 2016 field report HERE. I was so impressed with NVIDIA last year, I assumed it was just an outlier and that this year the company would come back down to earth. I was wrong. I was equally impressed with what I saw at this year’s installment terms of how GPUs and NVIDIA are transforming the field of AI and deep learning. This Field Report chronicles what I saw and I’m delighted to share my experience!

insideHPC Special Report: Riding the Wave of Machine Learning and Deep Learning

I’m very pleased to announce the availability of a new special technology report that I was contracted to research, develop and write – “insideHPC Special Report: Riding the Wave of Machine Learning and Deep Learning” sponsored by Dell EMC and NVIDIA. insideHPC is the sister publication (specializing in high performance computing) to insideBIGDATA where I serve as Managing Editor.

The report focuses on how many companies are moving decisively to develop capabilities based on AI, machine learning and deep learning. In time-honored business fashion, the motivation is a combination of fear and hope. Competitive pressures are spurring companies on, and there is a sense of urgency among many enterprise thought leaders about not falling behind.

You can download a copy of the report HERE.

UCLA Career Development Conference for Graduate Students and Postdocs

I was pleased to be invited as an advisor for a full-day UCLA Career Development Conference for Graduate Students and Postdocs on May 4, 2017 on the beautiful UCLA campus. My topic of expertise: Data Science. It appears that many newly graduated Masters and Ph.D. students, as well as post doctoral researchers are interested in making the transition to the field of data science. During the round table discussions, I had the opportunity to meet with and advise many bright young minds, all of whom would make excellent data scientists. They came from a diverse set of academic disciplines including statistics, neurosciences, engineering, bio statistics, psychology just to name a few. I truly enjoy these opportunities to share my experiences in the field which I believe is the best profession around!

insideBIGDATA Guide to Artificial Intelligence & Deep Learning

I’m very pleased to announce the availability of a new technology guide that I was contracted to research, develop and write – “insideBIGDATA Guide to Artificial Intelligence & Deep Learning” sponsored by NVIDIA.

This guide to artificial intelligence explains the difference between AI, machine learning and deep learning, and examines the intersection of AI and HPC. The guide includes a special section highlighting the results of a new insideBIGDATA audience survey to get readers thoughts about how they see AI, machine learning and deep learning for their own companies. The guide provides some of the survey results including numeric results, data visualization, and interpretation of the results.

You can download a copy of the guide HERE.

UCLA Young Alumni Career Forum

I will be heading up the Big Data/Data Science area for the upcoming UCLA Young Alumni Career Forum on Saturday, Jan. 21 on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles. The forum presents a unique opportunity for recent UCLA grads with a focus on career strategies where professional career counselors, employers, and nationally recognized speakers will share effective strategies to strengthen skills as the candidates advance their early careers.

I’m eager to advise future data scientists all about the tremendous opportunities in this field. I feel the timing is excellent to transition into data science, and big data engineering. This is my opportunity to help shape new careers and help fellow UCLA alumni along the way. Looking forward to it!

MapR Big Data Everywhere Los Angeles

I’m pleased to be invited to speak at an upcoming tech event here in Los Angeles: Big Data Everywhere sponsored by MapR. Big Data Everywhere is a one-day conference focused on big data technologies that brings together users and developers to share their experience via technical sessions and user success stories. I will be presenting a session on “IoT Analytics.”

The event is on Dec. 8, 2016 from 8am to 3:30pm in Santa Monica (Silicon Beach). Tickets are available HERE.

I will also be presenting the night before for MapR’s “An Evening of Digital Transformation” along with SVP Data Applications Jack Norris. This event takes place on Dec. 7 from 4-7pm in Newport Beach. Register HERE.

insideBIGDATA Guide to Healthcare & Life Sciences

I’m excited to announce the availability of a new technology guide that I was contracted to research, develop and write – “insideBIGDATA Guide to Healthcare & Life Sciences” sponsored by Dell EMC.

The healthcare and life sciences industries historically have generated vast amounts of data. These large volumes of data hold the promise of supporting a wide range of medical and healthcare tasks, including clinical analytics and decision  support, patient profiling, disease surveillance, regulatory and compliance requirements, scientific research, and many  others. Data in healthcare and life sciences is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years and will be beyond the  capability of the traditional methods of data management and data analytics. This new guide details this upward trajectory for enterprise thought leaders.

You can download a copy of the guide HERE.

AI World Conference Moderator

As Managing Editor for insideBIGDATA.com, I’ve been invited to moderate a panel for AI World Conference & Expo in San Francisco, November 7-9, 2016. The topic of the panel is “High Performance Computing for the AI Ecosystem,” and includes several industry luminaries from high-profile companies like NVIDIA, Baidu Research, and Facebook. I really enjoy attending shows like this one, at the bleeding-edge of technology innovation. I always learn a lot and it serves to help direct my own research and consulting work.

AI World is the nation’s largest AI business conference with more than 90 speakers (including 75+ CxO’s) and 40+ sponsors and exhibitors to help attendees learn how to successfully harness intelligent technologies to build competitive advantage, drive new business opportunities and accelerate innovation efforts.

Los Angeles Fashion Industry: A Data Science Perspective

Over the past year, I’ve been working on a new research project that culminated with a whitepaper in support of the Los Angeles fashion industry – “Los Angeles Fashion Industry: A Data Science Perspective.” The work was done in collaboration with LA’s premiere fashion mart, The New Mart. The paper is in response to numerous stories found in the local apparel industry trade press that held the sentiment that LA fashion had seen better days and was on a downward slide. We decided to use privately procured and publicly available data sets to find a single truth surrounding this matter. The whitepaper’s position is quite the opposite – LA fashion is a Los Angeles mainstay and continues on an upward trajectory. See for yourself by downloading the paper HERE.