Automatic machine learning:methods, systems, challenges

This open access book presents the first comprehensive overview of general methods in Automatic Machine Learning (AutoML), collects descriptions of existing systems based on these methods, and discusses the first international challenge of AutoML systems. The book serves as a point of entry into this quickly-developing field for researchers and advanced students alike, as well as providing a reference for practitioners aiming to use AutoML in their work. The recent success of commercial ML applications and the rapid growth of the field has created a high demand for off-the-shelf ML methods that can be used easily and without expert knowledge. Many of the recent machine learning successes crucially rely on human experts, who select appropriate ML architectures (deep learning architectures or more traditional ML workflows) and their hyperparameters; however the field of AutoML targets a progressive automation of machine learning, based on principles from optimization and machine learning itself

Weighted Random Search for CNN Hyperparameter Optimization

Nearly all model algorithms used in machine learning use two different sets of parameters: the training parameters and the meta-parameters (hyperparameters). While the training parameters are learned during the training phase, the values of the hyperparameters have to be specified before learning starts. For a given dataset, we would like to find the optimal combination of hyperparameter values, in a reasonable amount of time. This is a challenging task because of its computational complexity. In previous work, we introduced the Weighted Random Search (WRS) method, a combination of Random Search (RS) and probabilistic greedy heuristic. In the current paper, we compare the WRS method with several state-of-the art hyperparameter optimization methods with respect to Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) hyperparameter optimization. The criterion is the classification accuracy achieved within the same number of tested combinations of hyperparameter values. According to our experiments, the WRS algorithm outperforms the other methods

Applied Machine Learning for Cybersecurity in Spam Filtering and Malware Detection

Machine learning is one of the fastest-growing fields and its application to cybersecurity is increasing. In order to protect people from malicious attacks, several machine learning algorithms have been used to predict the malicious attacks. This research emphasizes two vulnerable areas of cybersecurity that could be easily exploited. First, we show that spam filtering is a well known problem that has been addressed by many authors, yet it still has vulnerabilities. Second, with the increase of malware threats in our world, a lot of companies use AutoAI to help protect their systems. Nonetheless, AutoAI is not perfect, and data scientists can still design better models. In this thesis I show that although there are efficient mechanisms to prevent malicious attacks, there are still vulnerabilities that could be easily exploited. In the visual spoofing experiment, we show that using a classifier trained on data using Latin alphabet, to classify a message with a combination of Latin and Cyrillic letters leads to much lower classification accuracy. In Malware prediction experiment, our model has been able to predict malware attacks on Microsoft computers and got higher accuracy than any well known Auto AI

Automação de classificador SVM para aplicação em projetos de consultoria de gestão

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Ciências Exatas, Departamento de Ciência da Computação, 2019.O trabalho propôs a criação de um protótipo de ferramenta para auxiliar os consultores de uma consultoria de gestão empresarial no melhor entendimento e aprofundamento do problema de seus clientes bem como na tomada de decisões e proposições de soluções. Isso é feito a partir da automatização do processo de mineração de dados, podendo ser realizado com pouca necessidade de interação com o usuário. O desenho da ferramenta tomou como base conceitos e estudos de ferramentas disponíveis para automated machine learning realizados por meio de ampla revisão bibliográfica. A partir dos estudos, foi possível estruturar a lógica da ferramenta e suas funcionalidades. Essa lógica tem como base algumas das etapas do CRISP-DM, passando pelo entendimento dos dados, preparação, modelagem e avaliação. A validação da aplicabilidade da ferramenta foi feita utilizando bases de dados públicas. Os resultados mostram que com a utilização da ferramenta, mesmo com pouco conhecimento de mineração de dados, é possível construir modelos consistentes.This work proposed the creation of a prototype tool to assist the consultants of a business management consultancy in the best understanding of the problem of its clients as well as in the decision making and propositions of solutions. This was done by automating the data mining process, which can be accomplished with little need for user interaction. The tool design was based on concepts and studies of available tools for automated machine learning supported by a wide bibliographic review. From the studies, it was possible to structure the logic of the tool and its functionalities. This logic is based on some of the steps of CRISP-DM, including data understanding, data preparation, modeling and evaluation. The tool applicability validation was done using public databases. The results show that with the use of the tool, even with little knowledge of data mining, it is possible to construct consistent models