[Overview] DSPT#58 – Braga – Data Science Portugal

DSPT’s 58th Meetup covered two exciting but very distinct topics related to Data Science. The first talk was all about the Black Box challenge within Machine Learning whilst the latter focused on a big emerging security issue tackling AI: adversarial attacks.

This Meetup took place in Braga at Start-Up GNRation on the 13^th June and was sponsored by Bosch.The evening was warm and with a great atmosphere. Everything was set for the second DSPT Braga Meetup for 2019. Upon a brief introduction the first talk started with Miguel Monteiro from Farfetch presenting the audience with a great, dynamic talk on why Black Box algorithms, for which understanding is a current major challenge within Machine Learning, are starting to get less and less obscure thanks to many exciting developments and tools appearing every day. Miguel described some of the tools he has employed so far, providing some comparisons between them, and describing what he sees as the pros and cons for each of those tools. Energetically engaging with the audience, he invited us to later get our hands dirty and try these tools for ourselves.

The talk was followed by the break and classic group photo, with an exciting opportunity to discuss our favorite topics of the day or just hang out and do some useful networking.

Next was Brais Cancela from INESC TEC who presented us with a very interesting talk on Adversarial Attacks. He described several models and how prone they can be to suffer an adversarial attack. He also discussed several ways to protect our model against such attacks, again reinforcing how easily a system can be exposed and vulnerable if active measures are not taken to protect it against them.

Finally, the evening was concluded with a very lively dinner where discussion went from Data Science to Philosophy and the Supernatural. All good fun.