Published inTowards Data Science·PinnedMember-onlyManaging Language Model Risks; Dogs as Virtual AssistantsA Review of the DeepMind “Risks of Language Models” Publication — The United States is going through a phase of banning books in school libraries. Traditionally, we have been more willing to trust school librarians to determine what children should be able read with fewer free speech concerns than we have librarians in public libraries. We trust librarians to be trained…Language Model6 min readLanguage Model6 min read
Published inTowards Data Science·PinnedMember-onlyNewbie Adventures in COVID DataThe advice given to many who are interested in exploring or mastering data science is to find some data that intrigues you and see what you can learn. When COVID-19 hit Massachusetts pretty hard and the state began posting data for download, it seemed a good place to start. …Covid-198 min readCovid-198 min read
Published inTowards Data Science·PinnedMember-onlyNewbie Adventures in COVID Data- leveraging APIs for aggregated data and Plotly for ChartsStandardized data from COVID ACT NOW APIs allows for state by state comparison of daily positivity rates — In the first episode of our adventure in COVID data, we began to explore using Python basics (functions similar to Excel) to look at COVID-19 data and trends specifically for the state of Massachusetts. …Covid-195 min readCovid-195 min read
Published inTowards Data Science·PinnedMember-onlyWhy your machine learning model may be melting icebergs.Like many of you in Towards Data Science, I am self-taught in machine learning and can remember the day I first left my laptop in model training, fan whirring away, to return hours later and find it still buzzing along. “Hmm”, I thought, “maybe I need a GPU”. Fellow DIY…Artificial Intelligence3 min readArtificial Intelligence3 min read
Published inTowards Data Science·PinnedFive Hypotheses as to why Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning projects failThere are numerous articles and published papers around why AI/Machine Learning/Natural Language Processing projects never make it to “production” or fail to deliver on the value proposed (Gartner predicts that through 2022, 85 percent of AI projects will deliver erroneous outcomes due to bias in data, algorithms or the teams…Data Science5 min readData Science5 min read
Feb 16, 2022Member-onlyIf the Economy was a game of Jenga: Childcare as the first brickWhile Americans agree that childcare is a necessity, they diverge when it comes to the associated cultural values The COVID pandemic exposed that U.S. public schools function as essential government-funded daycare centers. As Omicron peaked in each state in the winter of 2022, student-minding services were often provided by school…Childcare9 min readChildcare9 min read
Jan 22, 2022Member-onlyA new COVID variant in 2022: a hypothetical exploration based on history and dataHypothetically, let’s say a new COVID variant is identified this Spring which results in testiculate atrophy. Let’s call it “Sigma”. “Sigma” is partially resistant to the current vaccines, replicates in the nose and throat like Omicron, and can spread to surrounding lymph nodes. “Sigma”, while mild in symptoms, is more…Covid-193 min readCovid-193 min read
Dec 22, 2021Member-onlyAs the Supreme Court ponders the Mississippi state law on abortion, let’s look at some data.Mississippi is one of the worst places to be born in the United States. Image of Postcard (Open Commons) First the good news: although the maternal mortality rate increased significantly in the U.S. between 2018 and 2019 (20.1 deaths per 100,000 live births for 2019 versus 17.4 …Data3 min readData3 min read
Apr 14, 2021Member-onlyA Quick Review of the Stamford AI in Healthcare Courses (AI in Healthcare Specialization) Capstone Project.For some, the capstone standalone may be equally as valuable as the course. In my prior post about the Stamford AI in Healthcare Course, I covered the course components, but held off on the actual Capstone Project. …Healthcare2 min readHealthcare2 min read
Jan 23, 2021Member-only“Mask-shamers” everywhere, please add this to your 100 day pledgePut your money where your mouth is and carry a spare. Almost everyone by now has likely run into a “mask-shamer”: The woman who when she sees someone who is not wearing a mask walking 20 yards away in an open field in the countryside feels the need to walk…Masks2 min readMasks2 min read
