Bayesian Machine Learning and Information Processing (5SSD0)

Note: This site is currently under construction.

The 2020/21 course "Bayesian Machine Learning and Information Processing" will start in November 2020 (Q2).

This course covers the fundamentals of a Bayesian (i.e., probabilistic) approach to machine learning and information processing systems. The Bayesian approach allows for a unified and consistent treatment of many model-based machine learning techniques. We focus on Linear Gaussian systems and will discuss many useful models and applications, including common regression and classification methods, Gaussian mixture models, hidden Markov models and Kalman filters. We will discuss important algorithms for parameter estimation in these models including the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm and Variational Bayes (VB). The Bayesian method also provides tools for comparing the performance of different information processing systems by means of estimating the Bayesian evidence’’ for each model. We will discuss several methods for approximating Bayesian evidence. Next, we will discuss intelligent agents that learn purposeful behavior from interactions with their environment. These agents are used for applications such as self-driving cars or interactive design of virtual and augmented realities. Indeed, in this course we relate synthetic Bayesian intelligent agents to natural intelligent agents such as the brain. You will be challenged to code Bayesian machine learning algorithms yourself and apply them to practical information processing problems.

Materials

Books

1. Christopher M. Bishop (2006), Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning. You can also buy a hardcopy, e.g. at bol.com.
2. Ariel Caticha (2012), Entropic Inference and the Foundations of Physics.
3. Bert de Vries et al. (2020), PDF bundle of lecture notes for lessons B0 through B12 (Ed. Q3-2019/20).
• The lecture notes may change a bit during the course, e.g., to process comments by students. A final PDF version will be posted after the last lecture.

Lecture notes and videos

The source files for the lecture notes are accessible at github. You can view all lecture notes online through the links below:

Date lesson materials
lecture notesvideo
11-Nov-2020 B0: Course Outline and Administrative Issues
B1: Machine Learning Overview
B0, B1 B1
13-Nov-2020 B2: Probability Theory Review B2 B2.1, B2.2
18-Nov-2020 B3: Bayesian Machine Learning B3 B3.1, B3.2
20-Nov-2020 W1: Probabilistic Programming 1 - Intro Bayesian ML
25-Nov-2020 B4: Factor Graphs and the Sum-Product Algorithm B4 B4
27-Nov-2020 B5: Continuous Data and the Gaussian Distribution B5 B5.1, B5.2, B5.3
02-Dec-2020 B6: Discrete Data and the Multinomial Distribution B6 B6
04-Dec-2020 W2: ProbProg 2 - MP & Analytical Bayesian Solutions
09-Dec-2020 B7: Regression B7 B7
11-Dec-2020 B8: Generative Classification
B9: Discriminative Classification
B8, B9 B8, B9
16-Dec-2020 W3: ProbProg 3 - Regression and Classification
18-Dec-2020 B10: Latent Variable Models and Variational Bayes B10 B10
break
06-Jan-2021 B11: Dynamic Models B11 B11
08-Jan-2020 B12: Intelligent Agents and Active Inference B12 B12
13-Jan-2020 W4: ProbProg 4: Latent Variable and Dynamic Models
15-Jan-2020 M1: Bonus Lecture: What is Life? M1

Exam Guide

Each year there will be two exam opportunities. Check the official TUE course site for exam schedules. In the Q2-2020 course, your performance will be assessed by a WRITTEN EXAMINATION, which (very likely) will be offered both online (with proctoring software) and offline (on campus, if the situation allows it).

You cannot bring notes or books to the exam. All needed formulas are supplied at the exam sheet.

Exercises

In preparation for the exam, we recommend that you work through the following exercises to test your understanding of the materials:

Please feel free to consult the following matrix and Gaussian cheat sheets (by Sam Roweis) when doing the exercises.

Miscellany

• Prerequisites for this course: Mathematical maturity equivalent to undergraduate engineering program. Scientific programming skills (e.g. in Python, MATLAB or Julia) are helpful.

• Here is a guide to help you install Julia and Jupyter, so that you can open and run the course notebooks on your own machine.