New data analysis competitions
- March Machine Learning Mania 2017 on Kaggle, as every year.
How-to
- From a discussion in a Spanish list about data journalism (this one) I learned the existence of Wikidata.
Privacy
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On pacemaker data and privacy, several articles linked by Bruce Schneier.
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Camouflage from face detection.
CV Dazzle explores how fashion can be used as camouflage from face-detection technology, the first step in automated face recognition.
The name is derived from a type of World War I naval camouflage called Dazzle, which used cubist-inspired designs to break apart the visual continuity of a battleship and conceal its orientation and size. Likewise, CV Dazzle uses avant-garde hairstyling and makeup designs to break apart the continuity of a face. Since facial-recognition algorithms rely on the identification and spatial relationship of key facial features, like symmetry and tonal contours, one can block detection by creating an "anti-face".
Tech
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Peer Review Has Its Shortcomings, But AI Is a Risky Fix.
Artificial intelligence is luring science into dangerous waters. To make scientific publishing more efficient, commercial publishers now rely more and more on editorial software systems. These are beginning to transform peer review from interaction between humans into interaction between humans and AI. We should think twice before allowing autonomous AI systems to decide what research warrants publication.
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African Villagers Use Satellite Data to Help Save Wild Chimpanzees.
Given that chimpanzees are a keystone species and the closest extant relative to humans, their rapid decline in the wild has sparked widespread concern. In response, NASA and the Jane Goodall Institute partnered on a project that aims to use space-down views of chimpanzee habitats to guide local activists involved in conservation. The early results of this ongoing collaboration were recently in this short documentary.
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This AI Can Diagnose a Rare Eye Condition as Well as a Human Doctor.
[...] a group of Chinese ophthalmologists and computer scientists has demonstrated a machine learning algorithm for identifying congenital cataracts, a rare eye disease that's nonetheless responsible for some 10 percent of all vision loss in children worldwide. The algorithm was able to catch the disease with accuracies exceeding 90 percent, putting it on par with individual human ophthalmologists. The new algorithm is described in the current issue of Nature Biomedical Engineering.
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AI Decisively Defeats Human Poker Players.
Humanity has finally folded under the relentless pressure of an artificial intelligence named Libratus in a historic poker tournament loss. As poker pro Jason Les played his last hand and leaned back from the computer screen, he ventured a half-hearted joke about the anticlimactic ending and the lack of sparklers. Then he paused in a moment of reflection. [...] Libratus lived up to its "balanced but forceful" Latin name by becoming the first AI to beat professional poker players at heads-up, no-limit Texas Hold'em.
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A number of articles have been published in the last days disputing claims that Donald Trump's data science team was pivotal for the winning of the election. Here's one and here's another one. Thanks to Yashar for this last link.
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The Secret Uber Data That Could Fix Your Commute.
Buried amid a pile of anti-drowsy driving rules the Taxi and Limousine Commission just unanimously approved, one provision caught the attention of Silicon Valley: Rideshare and livery companies, including Uber and Lyft, must report detailed data about where they're picking up and dropping off their passengers.
Visualizations
Data Links is a periodic blog post published on Sundays (specific time may vary) which contains interesting links about data science, machine learning and related topics. You can subscribe to it using the general blog RSS feed or this one, which only contains these articles, if you are not interested in other things I might publish.
Have you read an article you liked and would you like to suggest it for the next issue? Just contact me!