Abstract: 

The rise of AutoML in recent years has incited passionate discussions among the data science community. Advancements in automatic or autonomous machine learning systems lead to questions around the necessity of the commonly quoted percentages of time data scientists spend on laborious, low-value tasks. What does this mean for the role of the professional vs citizen data scientists and what can (or should) really be automated? This talk will give a short history of AutoML, outline some of the latest promising areas of research and their associated challenges and provide a basis for discussion around this important new area of data science.

Bio: 

Alex is a senior Data Scientist with the New South Wales Government & has ongoing lecturing and research positions in applied Data Science at UTS & UNSW. He is currently also undertaking his research doctorate, critically evaluating the application of the latest in state of the art AutoML solutions to improve decision making within the NSW Government.