Automated Machine Learning: Techniques and Frameworks

Abstract

Nowadays, machine learning techniques and algorithms are employed in almost every application domain (e.g., financial applications, advertising, recommendation systems, user behavior analytics). In practice, they are playing a crucial role in harnessing the power of massive amounts of data which we are currently producing every day in our digital world. In general, the process of building a high-quality machine learning model is an iterative, complex and time-consuming process that involves trying different algorithms and techniques in addition to having a good experience with effectively tuning their hyper-parameters. In particular, conducting this process efficiently requires solid knowledge and experience with the various techniques that can be employed. With the continuous and vast increase of the amount of data in our digital world, it has been acknowledged that the number of knowledgeable data scientists can not scale to address these challenges. Thus, there was a crucial need for automating the process of building good machine learning models (AutoML). In the last few years, several techniques and frameworks have been introduced to tackle the challenge of automating the machine learning process. The main aim of these techniques is to reduce the role of humans in the loop and fill the gap for non-expert machine learning users by playing the role of the domain expert. In this chapter, we present an overview of the state-of-the-art efforts in tackling the challenges of machine learning automation. We provide a comprehensive coverage for the various tools and frameworks that have been introduced in this domain. In addition, we discuss some of the research directions and open challenges that need to be addressed in order to achieve the vision and goals of the AutoML process.