For #transformationtuesdays I’m sharing one of the most common use cases for Machine Learning that a lot of people who are young or young at heart can relate to – computer games.

For today’s example, it’s how AI Bots can be better than humans at playing Starcraft.

Why Starcraft? Because its complexity and the multitude of factors to consider that affect gameplay is closer to the number of factors a human brain considers in real life when making decisions, as compared to other games like Chess for example, where players take turns.

Why is this important? Because implementing Machine Learning Algorithms on games like Starcraft will allow us to learn more about how we can build better Bots that will be applicable to the real world.

Read on for more details and to see the actual use case.

Before I show you the use case, allow me to give you an idea just how complex it is to build one of these Bots that can beat human players in Starcraft.

To give you some perspective, Google’s computer processors that crunch through Machine Learning Algorithms like Google Translate are called TPUs (Tensor Processing Units).

To beat world-class chess players, the AlphaZero algorithm needs 4 TPUs.

On the other hand, AlphaStar, the algorithm designed to beat professional Starcraft players, uses a whopping 32 TPUs! Thats a lot of processing power.

I’m sure by now you’re interested to find out more about the use case, so I won’t delay it any further. Check it out now.

Why Starcraft is the perfect battleground for testing AI

How it worked is they trained the Machine Learning algorithm by having it watch 44 days worth of human game replays for each of the 3 Starcraft races – Protoss, Zergs, and Terrans, for it to identify patterns and develop its own gameplay strategies.

It got so good, that what they’re looking at now is how to reduce the required processing power to accomplish the same tasks.

Taking on challenges like this teaches us humans on how we can be better at creating new AI tools that work in a multitude of environments and with a lot of variables, which are closer to the number of complexities and factors humans actually experience and deal with in the real world.

Ending Note

I hope you found this to be of value.

If you have any questions, reply with a comment. I’d love to hear from you.

And if you think this is helpful and you’d want to get more, then subscribe for updates, and get a free copy of my book – The Business Optimization Blueprint.

The post How AI Bots can beat Humans at Starcraft using Machine Learning (Use Case) appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

For today’s #transformationtuesdays we’ll talk about an innovation in AI (Artificial Intelligence), particularly Natural Language Processing.

You know when there are big corporate bosses or entrepreneurs who get to delegate tasks to their Assistants such as booking dinner reservations, hair stylist appointments, and other tasks that would require the Assistant to contact other people to complete the task?

What if you had the power to do all that, without having the need to hire a living breathing Assistant, and all you have to do is command your mobile phone to do those kinds if tasks for you. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

Well that’s exactly what I’ll be showing you today.

You see, Google has been busy developing the next generation Google Assistant, where they have injected it with Google Duplex technology to give it the power to make Phone Calls on your behalf.

Some of you may already know this, but for those who aren’t aware of the existence this technology yet, I’ll share with you (1) The Demo when it was launched, so you know how it works, and (2) Where it is being applied now, and where it will be used next.

And for those who want to know what goes on inside these kinds of Chat Bots, and where Natural Language Processing and AI comes into play, then I’ll break down the bits and pieces for you so you’ll get a better understanding.

Let’s go!

If you haven’t seen the Google Assistant + Google Duplex Launch and Demo yet, now is the time to see it. Otherwise, you’re missing half of your life.

Isn’t it amazing that it’s as if you have this little creature living inside your mobile phone whom you can command to make dinner reservations on your behalf?

That launch video was in May of 2018. Fast forward to today, as per this article by Android Authority in October 2019 (which also talks about how you can activate it so give it a read), Google Duplex is now available in 48 States in the US, and has recently been rolled-out in New Zealand.

Now if you’ve read thus far, you’re probably curious about how Chat Bots like these work, and where Natural Language Processing comes into play.

It’s actually a combination of the following:

1. Voice Recognition – How this works is that when you speak into your phone’s microphone, it converts your spoken voice into waveforms, which are basically images of sound. That’s how software algorithms are better able to tell the difference between words like “where,” “were,” and “we’re.” And then it turns that information into Text.
2. Natural Language Processing – I’ve written a separate article that defines NLP, along with various examples, that could demystify this for you. But in essence, it takes the text information from the voice recognition piece, identifies the context, then provides an appropriate response, in text.
3. Text to Speech – This is pretty much like Voice Recognition but in reverse. So it takes the text information from the Natural Language Processing piece and converts it to a waveform that when played, sounds like a voice conversation.

So in its basic form, a Chat Bot can start out as a very elaborate script, where you take the most common things that a human would say, and the Chat Bot would process that information and provide a pre-programmed response.

But if you add a Machine Learning algorithm to it, you can give it more information in the form of training data, it will learn how to adapt to new conversations it hasn’t encountered before, and adapt accordingly based on what it has experienced in the past i.e. based on the training data.

Training data can be composed of information that’s already been labeled by humans.

For example, if the input is a question like “Do you think I should go to the gym today, or sleep in?” The training data can have information on sentiment (e.g. anger, disgust, fear, happy, sad, surprise, neutral) and what the common human responses are to a question like this.

And then you add Voice Recognition to the input side, and Text to Speech on the output side, make all of them work simultaneously, and you’ve got yourself a Chat Bot that has the ability to make Phone Calls on your behalf.

Ending Note

I hope you found this to be of value, and gave you a sense of how Natural Language Processing is being applied in real-world scenarios.

If you have any questions, reply with a comment. I’d love to hear from you.

And if you think this is helpful and you’d want to get updates on the next article, subscribe for updates, and get a free copy of my book – The Business Optimization Blueprint.

The post Chat Bots Making Phone Calls on Your Behalf using NLP AI (Use Case) appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

For #transformationtuesdays I’m sharing how AI is Transforming the way you can determine if you will encounter any health issues in the near future – specifically Heart Attacks.

Read on to see how they made it work.

What they did was to take a lot of ECG scans, where the researchers already knew the outcome for each i.e. which ones ended up getting a heart attack and by when, and which ones did not get a heart attack.

The researchers then fed the data into a Machine Learning algorithm for it to train on that data.

The results are astounding, as the AI was then able to predict upcoming heart attacks and other heart-related diseases better than real-life Cardiologists e.g. those who said the ECG scans were clear, but the patients still ended up getting heart attacks.

Source: https://www.rt.com/news/473282-ai-predicts-heart-attacks/

Ending note

I hope you learned something new today.

If you want to learn how to do this, and you think a career in Artificial Intelligence is for you, even if you’re just a beginner, I would recommend you check out the IBM Applied AI Professional course, which you can check further for details.

The post Use AI to predict Heart Attacks a year before it happens (Use Case) appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

It’s #transformationtuesdays and today we’ll talk about a Use Case of Lean Six Sigma being implemented successfully in the Technology industry.

Usually, Tech firms would default to the Agile approach and talk about how they can make further improvements during their Scrum rituals.

And non-Technology companies take best practices from Tech firms implementing Agile and Scrum, to see how they can work in a non-Technology setting.

But here you’ll see the opposite happening.

Lean Six Sigma, a methodology widely used in non-Technology settings, being implemented in the Software and Technology industry.

Today I’ll be showing you the entire Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Project Storyboard by Eduardo Torres, where he was able to reduce Software Bug Fix Lead Time from 25 to 15 days.

This not only improved Customer Perception in a good way, this has also increased Team Member Morale as they were able to free up some of their capacity for them to work on features, moving them in the right direction to become Best in Class.

Continue on to see the full project storyboard.

Click here to get the full project Storyboard on Reducing Software Bug Fix Lead Time from 25 to 15 days.

I hope you learned a lot today.

If you want to be like Eduardo, you’re in luck. I’ll be hosting a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Flipped Classroom Training that’s coming up. Limited slots!

Click here for details. Enroll now, before slots run out: Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Flipped Classroom Training.

The post How Eduardo reduced Software Bug Fix Lead Time from 25 to 15 days (LSS Green Belt Use Case) appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

Yesterday, I shared how I learned my core skillset – Lean Six Sigma.

This is the skill that allowed me to broaden my mindset and branch out to learn and gain experience in various other Continuous Process Improvement related skills, including automation, and even Artificial Intelligence, which I’ve been posting a lot about lately.

I truly believe that this skillset is foundational for you to be able to look at business processes in a way that no one else in your company has seen before.

And this will definitely open up so many doors in your career, as it has for me, and you will be known as the one who can make things done.

Without this skillset, I don’t think I could have achieved the same level of success as I have now.

And for today’s #transformationtuesdays, apart from what I have just shared with you regarding how this has transformed my life and my career, I’d like to share with you 2 more from people just like you – Tracey and Dale.

Like you, they’ve researched about how they can get themselves Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certified for them to take their career to the next level.

They’ve also looked at several other options and providers, both in-classroom and online, and have weighed the pros and cons of each. And have even experienced some of these trainings, only to end up either more confused, overwhelmed, or constrained by time.

But in the end, you won’t believe what they had to say about GoLeanSixSigma.com’s Online Green Belt Training and Certification course.

Here’s what Tracey had to say about it:

“GoLeanSixSigma.com’s courses are fabulously easy to understand. I have taken other Green Belt courses (ASQ, Six Sigma Global Institute) and GoLeanSixSigma.com’s was by far the best. You made intimidating concepts and tools SO easy to use and apply. I truly thank you.” – Tracey Jensen, Process Optimization and Change Management Consultant, Illuminative Strategies

And here’s from Dale:

“I was certified as a Green Belt through another organization about 2 years ago. The training was 100% onsite in-person training. GoLeanSixSigma.com’s online training course was far superior and covered more areas than the onsite. I am looking forward to moving on towards my Black Belt now and having our teams go through the Yellow Belt and Green Belt Training.” – Dale Dean, Chief Strategic Performance & Innovation Officer, City of Southlake

That being said, I’m happy to announce that I’m offering you 2 options for Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Training and Certification:

Option 1: 100% Online, Self-Paced

1 year access. You control your schedule, take the modules whenever you please.

About 32 hours worth of online training plus the Green Belt Certification exam.

Click here to Enroll in the Online Self-Paced Green Belt program, and start learning today.

Option 2: Flipped Classroom

Join my upcoming Flipped Classroom Session. Limited slots only. You get the same features as Option 1, but with the added benefit of having touchpoint sessions with fellow learners, facilitated by me.

The first session will be on Jan 25, 2020, Saturday, at 10am Eastern Standard Time.

We will have 5 sessions at 1.5 hours each, scheduled every 2 weeks.

Click here for Flipped Classroom details, schedule, and enrollment instructions.

Feel free to reply with a comment for any questions or clarifications that you may have.

I look forward to seeing you take action towards making a better version of you!

The post You Won’t Believe what Dale and Tracey said about the Online Green Belt Course at GoLeanSixSigma appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

For #transformationtuesdays I’m sharing another use case for Artificial Intelligence using Computer Vision.

This is the world’s first universal Lego sorting machine by Daniel West, and here you’ll see a demonstration of it in action, as well as the details as to how it works.

What makes this interesting is that the typical image classifiers you’ll see work on 2D images. But this sorter works on 3D real-life Lego bricks, which makes it more challenging.

Moreover, it has the ability to classify even Lego pieces that it has not seen before!

In fact, that’s what makes it AI, as otherwise, perhaps you could just simply hardcode every Lego brick piece into the program as if it were just a rules-based task.

In this video you’ll see a demonstration of the AI sorting machine in action.

The world’s first universal Lego sorting machine

Video © Daniel West

But if you’re curious to find out exactly how it works, then see the next video below, as Daniel West breaks down the details of how the AI works.

Lego Sorter AI: How does it work?

Video © Daniel West

Imagine how this Use Case can be applicable to the rest of the world, such as making recycling more efficient, or in cleaning and organizing children’s toys at home, or tools and spare parts in the shop.

If only the training data used in one platform can be used in another? Maybe soon.

I hope you found this to be of value. Let me know if you have questions. I’d be happy to hear back from you.

The post Sorting Lego Bricks using Computer Vision AI (Use Case) appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

Last Friday we talked about some Artificial Intelligence Basics, specifically Computer Vision.

So for today’s #transformationtuesdays I’ll share with you a specific use case where Computer Vision is being used, together with Natural Language Processing to describe to a blind person what is in their surroundings.

It can read text, answer certain questions, and even identify sentiment and emotion on the faces of the people in front of them.

If you haven’t seen this yet, then now is the time to check it out.

If not, you’re missing half of your life.

Video © Microsoft

Are you interested in learning Artificial Intelligence, even if you’re just a beginner? Click here!

The post How Artificial Intelligence allows the Blind to “See” appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

It’s #transformationtuesdays where I share use cases and success stories that you can learn from, and replicate too!

If your dream is to become a Data Scientist, and you’re wondering what you need to do, and what it would take to break into one of the most sought-after jobs of the future, then this article is for you.

Today, I’m sharing the success story of Jamen Long, and how he broke into his career as a Data Scientist.

And like you, he started with zero experience.

If you’re interested to find out exactly what Jamen did, then read on.

Don’t get me wrong. He did have work experience, though his background was quite different.

But the thing is, he really wanted to take the leap and jump into a career as a Data Scientist.

He knew he needed to learn stuff like R, Python, and SQL to get started. He did some research and took some online courses, but he didn’t really feel like they were allowing him to progress logically with a step-by-step path.

That is, until he found out about DataCamp.

From then on, his focus and direction became clear. And even starting out as a beginner, he was able to make steady, meaningful progress.

“DataCamp was essential for getting my job, which was my break into data science.” – Jamen Long

DataCamp is brilliant in such a way that you can learn it today, then apply it tomorrow.

In fact, Jamen is now a Data Scientist at Westfield Labs in San Francisco, thanks to the fact that he was able to leverage on DataCamp to acquire the skills needed to break into this career.

I’m sure you’re very curious right now, especially if you read up to this point. So I won’t delay you any further. You can read the full story by clicking on the link below.

Jamen Long’s Data Scientist Success Story

I hope you found value and inapiration in this success story.

Now if you’re interested in building a career as a Data Scientist, then here’s how you can take action:

• Visit DataCamp to start learning Data Science today! Heck, you can even start learning for free! Learn it today, apply it tomorrow.
• If you haven’t yet, download a copy of my book for FREE (for a limited time only) – The Business Optimization Blueprint, and learn how you can improve your business process and take it to the next level. I talk about practical uses of Data Science in business in Chapter 3.

The post How Jamen went from Zero Experience to becoming a Data Scientist (Success Story) appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

It’s #transformationtuesdays and our topic of the day is Data Science, and how Facebook uses it to do the following:

1. Facial Recognition
2. Textual Analysis
3. Targeted Advertising

No, they didn’t use some magic beans then all of a sudden they became an internet giant.

They uses Data Science extensively to make these things possible.

If you want to find out how, then read on.

I won’t add any more fluff. If you’ve read this far, I know you want to get straight to the point.

So without further ado, here are the use cases:

• Data Science at Facebook
• How Facebook Uses Data Analytics To Understand Your Posts And Recognize Your Face
• How Data Science at Facebook brings the world closer together

I hope you found this to be of value.

If you want to learn how to become one, some of the best learning tracks I’ve seen are the Data Science learning paths from DataCamp.

You can start learning today even for free. Check it out! Click the link below.

Data Science at DataCamp

The post How Facebook uses Data Science for Social Analytics (Use Case) appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

For today’s #transformationtuesdays I will be sharing with you a case study of how Design Thinking saved the struggling Oil of Olay brand.

In the early 1990s, Proctor & Gamble’s Oil of Olay brand reached a point where it was seen by the public as a brand meant for “older” women.

They have lost their competitive edge as a top skin care brand.

In short, they were in trouble.

At that point they had 3 choices:

1. Scrap Oil of Olay and just launch a new brand
2. Buy out a competitor
3. Innovate and reinvent the Oil of Olay brand

The use case below talks about how they applied Design Thinking to put themselves in the user’s shoes, empathize with them and find out what their pain points are.

And this allowed them to decide which of the 3 choices made the most sense.

Check out the use case below.

How can Design Thinking Re-invent a Brand

What I like the most about this case study was how they looked at their non-customers in order for them to Innovate.

The use case has a lot of gold nuggets as well. It talks about the 3 types of non-customers, which of the 3 you should focus on to get ideas for innovation, and how you use observation rather than questions in order to locate them.

So if you want to find out how Oil of Olay went from struggling brand, to once again being a powerhouse in the skin care industry, with the launch of the “Olay Total Effects” product lineup and more, then click on the link below to see the use case now!

How can Design Thinking Re-invent a Brand

The post How Design Thinking saved the struggling Oil of Olay brand (Use Case) appeared first on Robbie Agustin.