
Recent progress in machine learning provides many potentially effective tools to learn estimates or make predictions from datasets of ever-increasing sizes. Can we trust such tools in clinical and highly-sensitive systems? If a learning algorithm predicts an effect of a new policy to be positive, what guarantees do we have concerning the accuracy of this prediction? The talk introduces new statistical ideas to ensure that the learned estimates satisfy some fundamental properties: especially causality and robustness. The talk will discuss potential connections and departures between causality and robustness.
The Statistics Seminars for Winter Quarter will be held in Room 380C of Sloan Mathematics Center in the Main Quad at 4:30pm on Tuesdays. Refreshments are served at 4pm in the Lounge on the first floor of Sequoia Hall.