Johan Loeckx

Corneliu Cofaru, Johan Loeckx

This paper proposes a knowledge-driven AutoML architecture for pipeline and deep feature synthesis. The main goal is to render the AutoML process explainable and to leverage domain knowledge in the synthesis of pipelines and features. The architecture explores several novel ideas: first, the construction of pipelines and deep features is approached in an unified way. Next, synthesis is driven by a shared knowledge system, interactively queried as to what pipeline operations to use or features to compute. Lastly, the synthesis processes takes decisions at runtime using partial solutions and results of their application on data. Two experiments are conducted to demonstrate the functionality of a naïve implementation of the proposed architecture and to discuss its advantages, trade-offs as well as future potential for AutoML.

Johan Loeckx

Machine learning is usually defined in behaviourist terms, where external validation is the primary mechanism of learning. In this paper, I argue for a more holistic interpretation in which finding more probable, efficient and abstract representations is as central to learning as performance. In other words, machine learning should be extended with strategies to reason over its own learning process, leading to so-called meta-cognitive machine learning. As such, the de facto definition of machine learning should be reformulated in these intrinsically multi-objective terms, taking into account not only the task performance but also internal learning objectives. To this end, we suggest a "model entropy function" to be defined that quantifies the efficiency of the internal learning processes. It is conjured that the minimization of this model entropy leads to concept formation. Besides philosophical aspects, some initial illustrations are included to support the claims.