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SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Iterative, the MLOps company dedicated to streamlining the workflow of data scientists and machine learning (ML) engineers, reached a number of important milestones in 2021. Highlights include introducing the Data Version Control (DVC) and Continuous Machine Learning (CML) open source projects followed by the addition of Experiment Versioning in DVC.

Iterative was founded in 2018 and in less than three years, its tools have had more than 8 million sessions and are rapidly growing, with more than 12,000 stars on GitHub between CML and DVC. DVC users grew by almost 95% in 2021 with over 3000 monthly users. Iterative now has more than 300 contributors across the different tools.

Iterative's tools have been critical in helping our machine learning team grow and unlock their productivity," said Benjamin Jones, head of ML at DeGould. Before using DVC, we struggled to share data and pipelines were steps written in READMEs. Since adopting DVC and CML, we've been able to easily collaborate and share data and experiments across team members to improve productivity and to show progress. Iterative has made life easier with tools that work with our existing tech stack, instead of running Bash scripts to cobble everything together. And sending progress reports in emails with spreadsheets is a thing of the past!

In 2021, Iterative saw significant company growth as the headcount increased by 150%. Joining the team include Oded Messer as director of Engineering and Ken Thom as director of Operations. Messer brings more than 10 years of experience as a software engineer where he most recently worked as platform group manager at Iguazio following five years as software engineer at Intel. Thom brings 30 years of experience in the software industry where he was most recently managing director at SOMAcentral following various product positions at companies including SocialMedia.com, Unboggle, oDesk, Vazu Inc., Inktomi, E*Trade, and Apple.

We are excited to welcome Oded and Ken to the team, said Dmitry Petrov, co-founder and CEO of Iterative. We look forward to continued expansion of our team to build the best tools for machine learning engineers.

DVC brings agility, reproducibility, and collaboration into the existing data science workflow. DVC provides users with a Git-like interface for versioning data and models, bringing version control to machine learning and solving the challenges of reproducibility. DVC is built on top of Git, creating lightweight metafiles and enabling the system to handle large files, which can't be stored in Git. It works with remote storage for large files in the cloud.

CML is an open-source library for implementing continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) in machine learning projects. Users can automate parts of their development workflow, including model training and evaluation, comparing ML experiments across their project history, and monitoring changing datasets. CML will also auto-generate reports with metrics and plots in each Git pull request.

Together, CML and DVC provide ML engineers a number of features and benefits that support data provenance, machine learning model management and automation. DVC and CML are open-source tools available for free. Iterative also provides a commercial offering of a collaboration service DVC Studio. Iterative is building additional open-source tools to complement the ML engineering workflow, and also provides a commercial offering of a collaboration service Iterative Studio.

DVC, CML and Iterative Studio are available today to work with GitHub and GitLab. To schedule a demo, visit http://www.Iterative.ai.

About Iterative

Iterative.ai, the company behind popular open-source tools DVC and CML, enables data science teams to build models faster and collaborate better with data-centric machine learning tools. Iteratives developer-first approach to MLOps delivers model reproducibility, governance, and automation across the ML lifecycle, all integrated tightly with software development workflows. Iterative is a remote-first company, backed by True Ventures, Afore Capital, and 468 Capital. For more information, visit Iterative.ai.

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MLOps Company Iterative Achieves Significant Customer and Company Growth in 2021 - Business Wire

On March 15, 2022, the California Fair Employment & Housing Council released draft revisions to the states employment non-discrimination laws that would dramatically expand the liability exposure and obligations of employers and third-party vendors that use, sell, or administer employment-screening tools or services that embody artificial intelligence, machine learning, or other data-driven statistical processes to automate decision-making.

As proposed, the regulations would define an automated-decision system, or ADS, in extremely broad terms: any computational process, including one derived from machine learning, statistics, or other data processing or artificial intelligence techniques, that screens, evaluates, categorizes, recommends, or otherwise makes a decision or facilitates human decision making that impacts employees or applicants. This includes, without limitation:

The proposal goes on to specify that the use of ADS in a manner that is intentionally discriminatory, or that is facially neutral but nonetheless results in discriminatory impact, is unlawful under state law.

The draft regulations provide that liability extends to third parties that act on behalf of an employer by providing services relating to various facets of employment, including recruiting, applicant screening, hiring, payroll, benefit administration, etc., if they adversely affect the terms or conditions of employment. These third parties would be considered agents of the employer (and thereby, also an employer of the aggrieved party) and would thus be directly liable for claims of discrimination. The regulations likewise expand the definition of employment agency to include any person who provides ADS or ADS-related servicesessentially making the vendors and administrators of employment-screening tools subject to the non-discrimination law. The proposed regulation would also create aiding and abetting liability for anyone engaged in the advertisement, sale, provision, or use of an ADS if the end use of that ADS results in unlawful discrimination.

Finally, the regulations would expand recordkeeping requirements under current law from two years to four years, and would require the retention, by the employer and all other covered third-party entities, of all data used in the process of developing or applying machine-learning algorithms that are utilized as part of an ADS. This would include datasets used to train the algorithm; data provided by individual applicants or employees; data about individual applicants and employees that have been analyzed by the algorithm; and data produced from the application of an ADS operation. The revisions would also require all third parties engaged in the advertisement, sale, provision, or use of ADS tools to preserve the assessment criteria used by the [ADS] for each such employer or covered entity to whom the [ADS] is provided.

The Council is slated to discuss these proposed regulations in a public (virtual) meeting scheduled for 3:00 p.m. (PDT) on Friday, March 25, 2022. If approved, they will be open for public comment. Ultimately, the Council may approve the draft as proposed, or presumably make modifications to the proposal based on comments received. What is clear, however, is that the Golden State is poised to regulate the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in employment decision-making aggressively, and to extend liability to vendors and those who provide products or services to assist employers in doing so.

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California Fair Employment & Housing Council Proposes Sweeping Regulation of Automated Decision-making and Artificial Intelligence in Employment -...

Machine learning and animal/human intimacy bonds are the topics for two hybrid Oxford Science Cafes scheduled for Mar. 22 and 24 by faculty researchers from the University of Mississippi and University of Texas.

Both programs will be conducted in-person at Heartbreak Coffee, 265 North Lamar Ave., Suite G, and hosted on Zoom beginning at 6 p.m.

Dawn Wilkins, UM chair and professor of computer and information science, will discuss Machine Learning Applications to Science: Dos and Donts on March 22. Steven Phelps, professor of integrative biology and director of the Center for Brain, Behavior and Evolution at the University of Texas, will discuss A natural history of intimacy on March 24.

Machine learning is a way to add intelligence to an application without explicitly programming it with knowledge, Wilkins said. Instead, machine learning uses examples data as experience and builds a model of the implicit knowledge.

The advantage of this approach is the speed at which an application can be developed and deployed.

Questions to be addressed during Wilkins 45-minute talk include what machine learning is, how it is used, and some of the pitfalls and ethical concerns.

Machine learning models reduce human bias in making decisions and are not limited to problems with scope manageable by humans, Wilkins said. On the other hand, there can be issues with the application of machine learning, including obtaining enough data, implicit biases, and difficulty in the interpretability and generalizability of the models.

Phelps will discuss close social relationships common in the animal world.

These relationships are essential aspects of the human experience, he said. They promote collaboration and engender conflict.

This talk draws from animal behavior, neuroscience and evolutionary biology to explore how and why bonds form in species as diverse as prairie voles, poison frogs and humans.

To view either of the presentations online, visit:https://olemiss.zoom.us/j/99989536748. A link to the recorded talk will be posted athttps://www.phy.olemiss.edu/oxfordsciencecafe/.

For more information about the Department of Physics and Astronomy, which organizes the Oxford Science Cafe, visithttps://physics.olemiss.edu/.

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Machines, intimacy topics for two hybrid Oxford Science Cafes - The Oxford Eagle - Oxford Eagle

Driven by a proprietary set of pattern-recognition algorithms that provide the user with choice and control over the content they view

VIENNA, Va., March 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --Seekr,aninternet technology company, launched its searchbeta version today, streamlining access to reliable information. The company provides an alternative to existing search engines and offers objective results combined with advanced information analysis to assist users in judging the quality of content. The site will initially offer the Seekr Score, which rates each news article's quality, and a Political Lean Indicator, which classifies political news as right, center, or left. Over time, the scoring will be extended beyond the news.

Seekr makes it easier to assess the reliability of information by offering ratings and filtering

Consumer rating systems exist across several industries; however, until today, no one has created a system to automatically evaluate the reliability of information at web scale. Developed over many years and packaged with long-tail search support from existing engines, the platform was built on an independent index, utilizing proprietary Lite-Web Technology to serve both news and the best of the web search results.It provides a unique scoring and filtering system that will empower users to make informed decisions on what they consume, share, and trust online. The goal is to provide both people and advertisers with a way to evaluate all web-based content. To showcase these advanced capabilities, the company has built a new user interface designed for clarity. This design approach foreshadows the next generation of a more consumer-centric search experience.

"We believe that a user-driven search experience coupled with our content rating system is a step in the right direction towards reducing the distrust of online information that continues to grow among all democracies today," says Pat Condo,SeekrFounder and Chief Executive Officer."We want users to see all sides of an argument and have every source of information available to make their own decisions rather than having other search engines draw conclusions for them."

Seekr Score and Political Lean Indicator Are the First of Many Tools

Asuite of machine-learning algorithms generates a specific score for each news article, just as FICO scores and other rating systems are used to evaluate products and services. With each query, results are evaluated with the same scrutiny that a data scientist or expert journalist would provide.The Seekr Score analyzes the quality of information and adherence to journalistic principles for each article. Principlesinclude Title Exaggeration, Personal Attack, and Subjectivity, among others.

Individual news articles containing political content are rated right, center, or left through the Political Lean Indicator. The AI technology does this by extracting and deeply analyzing the text for expressions, words, and semantics typically associated with a political position.

"We believe all machine-learning systems need to be explainable and transparent. We want our users to understand how our scoring systems work and trust them," says Rob Clark,Executive Vice President of

Development at Seekr."To achieve this confidence, ongoing automated and manual testing is employed to ensure accuracy, prevent bias or inaccurate drifts in the model."

The company plans to offer ad-supported search with user consent in the future. When ads are included, they will be placed next to content that reflects the quality and suitability of their brands.

"We are not driven by any political ideology nor by a business model that puts the consumer at a disadvantage. Our motivation is to provide you with a deeper understanding of the content you may rely on through transformative and groundbreaking technologies which can advance the state of how people use search to enhance their lives," says Condo.

Access http://www.seekr.com.

For press materials, visit http://www.seekr.com/press-center

AboutSeekr Technologies Inc.

Seekris aprivately heldinternet technology company that prioritizes transparency and empowers user choice and control by streamlining access to reliable information. Current services include an independentsearch engine powered by AI technology, which evaluates information and presents a Seekr Score and Political Lean Indicator. Seekris committed to giving everyoneaccess to technology that makes it easy to find trustworthy content in context.

Media Contact: Erika CruzHead of Communications[emailprotected]

SOURCE Seekr Technologies

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Seekr Technologies launches the first search platform to rate web content by employing a fully automated machine-learning process - PR Newswire

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The United Nations Security Council agreed to renew its assistance mission for Afghanistan for another year on Thursday not long after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the situation in the war-torn nation in January as "hanging by a thread."

His words, observers say, served as a stark reminder of the state of affairs that saw the sudden downfall of its government following the Biden administrations rapid withdrawal of U.S. military forces last August.

"The Russian play in Ukraine is directly related to the weakness and incompetence we displayed to the world with our tragically flawed withdrawal from Afghanistan," said Christopher Miller. Miller served as acting secretary of defense in the Trump administration and was a veteran of the Afghan campaign. "The Chinese, North Koreans and Iranians took note. We are in the most dangerous geo-strategic situation since the Cuban missile crisis."

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Miller was one of the first officers to lead troops into Afghanistan where he commanded the Fifth Special Forces group after 9/11. Miller, who retired as a colonel in the special forces, also trained and fought alongside Afghan troops during his service there.

He pulled no punches over the U.S. withdrawal: "It's an absolute disgrace, and I'm ashamed personally and professionally at how we left our Afghan allies in such a desperate situation. It was completely preventable."

Prior to becoming acting defense secretary, he was part of a team working on the Trump administrations withdrawal plan. He said the narrative used by the Biden administration that characterized the situation as "unpredictable" was negligent.

Newly graduated Afghan National Army personnel march during their graduation ceremony after a three-month training program at the Afghan Military Academy in Kabul, Afghanistan, in November 2020. (AP/Rahmat Gul, File)

"Our adversaries noted our fecklessness, and we couldn't have provided them more powerful ammunition to create dissension with our allies and partners. We're going to be dealing with the blowback on our ham-handed, disastrous withdrawal for the next 20 years -- I'd hate to be a military man or diplomat trying to convince a potential partner to work with us."

During the early days of the withdrawal, reports of resistance by anti-Taliban forces, including elements of the Northern Alliance with a new group called the National Resistance Front (NRF), came together. However, without U.S. funding, their efforts will be in vain, according to Miller and other experts.

Miller bemoaned the lack of planning leading up to the Taliban takeover and said the US should support "anyone or group in Afghanistan that wishes to establish a meaningful government that can create opportunity and justice for the Afghan people."

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Miller maintained the lack of planning meant that Taliban forces defeated the Northern Alliance and other forces during their hour of need.

"If we had armed them and provided a handful of advisers to direct airstrikes, the Northern Alliance would still be in control of an enclave in the north that we could have developed additional resistance forces to use to pressure the Taliban to moderate their behavior (perhaps even establish a coalition government) or to mass forces to move on Kabul."

Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Freedom for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), said the National Resistance Front (NRF), based in Tajikistan and led by former Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh, so far has had minimal impact and said the Biden administration needs to both arm and fund them, "but the administration does not want to reengage in Afghanistan. It is inclined to work with the Taliban instead."

Roggio is the editor of the acclaimed Long War Journal, a publication that has provided in-depth analysis of the global war on terror since 2007. He described Afghanistan as a "black hole for terrorists," noting the terror threat coming out of Afghanistan is "significant."

He said al Qaeda and its leadership once again have found themselves a safe haven to operate from if they so choose. "The Taliban-al Qaeda alliance is strong, it was never broken," he added, while noting, "Other international and regional terror groups such as The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, the Turkistan Islamic Party, the Islamic Jihad Union, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Ansraulah are currently operating" under the Taliban's protection.

With no U.S. presence in Afghanistan and bordering countries, he painted a bleak picture for those who were left behind by the U.S. and our ability to fight the terrorists there.

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"The Biden administration has done little to help because it has next to no capacity to help. Additionally, President Biden does not seem inclined to help. His attitude towards Afghans who have supported American efforts has been callous since the moment he announced the withdrawal." Roggio concluded that the "ability to conduct counterterrorism strikes against al Qaeda, the Islamic State and other terror groups has been reduced to nearly zero."

With the U.S. presence now non-existent in Afghanistan, the question observers want to know is who will fill the vacuum? While Miller noted that Russia, Pakistan, and Iran are looking across their common borders, China has taken a particular interest. "Beijing certainly wants to take advantage of a U.S.-free Afghanistan, but it is not entirely clear that it will be able to do so," noted Gordon Chang, a leading expert on China.

Chang, a distinguished fellow at the Gatestone Institute, described Beijings thinking: "China wants to use Afghanistan as the first part of a land bridge to the Arabian Sea so that it will not be dependent on the Strait of Malacca, a choke point. Moreover, the Chinese covet Afghanistans minerals, like copper and lithium, and they want to make sure Afghan territory will not end up as a refuge for militants attacking China."

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, political chief of Afghanistan's Taliban, in north China's Tianjin, July 28, 2021. (Li Ran/Xinhua via Getty Images, File)

Chang says it wont necessarily be easy, noting, "None of these objectives will be obtainable unless the Afghan Taliban or some other group establishes control and stabilizes the situation. If some group does accomplish that, China will probably get most everything it wants."

And with a human rights situation in tatters, those who are suffering the most are women and girls and religious and other minority groups.

Paul, who didnt want to use his real name out of fear, is an Afghan Christian. He told Fox News Digital that he was able to escape to the U.S. and says Christians like him have been ruthlessly targeted by the Taliban: "If a Talib knows you are an Afghan Christian, thats a great blessing for him to kill you."

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Afghanistan recently topped North Korea as the worst country in the world for Christian persecution. The yearly World Watch List is published by Open Doors USA.

Paul described the dire economic situation that he left behind him: "People dont have jobs, and yeah, many sell their kidneys, people (are) starving,"

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Speaking at a recent U.N. Security Council meeting, Afghan American Womens rights activist Ahbouba Seraj said, "It has taken less than six months to completely dismantle the rights of women and girls across the country."

Yet even with all the despair and instability in Afghanistan, Miller still held out hope for the war-torn nation. "The Afghan people are enormously industrious and rugged, and Afghanistan has a large amount of natural resources that could be developed -- they just need meaningful leadership," he said.

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Afghanistan faces crisis on the ground as tens of thousands hide from Taliban, observers say - Fox News