Book Image

Enhancing Deep Learning with Bayesian Inference

By : Matt Benatan, Jochem Gietema, Marian Schneider
Book Image

Enhancing Deep Learning with Bayesian Inference

By: Matt Benatan, Jochem Gietema, Marian Schneider

Overview of this book

Deep learning has an increasingly significant impact on our lives, from suggesting content to playing a key role in mission- and safety-critical applications. As the influence of these algorithms grows, so does the concern for the safety and robustness of the systems which rely on them. Simply put, typical deep learning methods do not know when they don’t know. The field of Bayesian Deep Learning contains a range of methods for approximate Bayesian inference with deep networks. These methods help to improve the robustness of deep learning systems as they tell us how confident they are in their predictions, allowing us to take more in how we incorporate model predictions within our applications. Through this book, you will be introduced to the rapidly growing field of uncertainty-aware deep learning, developing an understanding of the importance of uncertainty estimation in robust machine learning systems. You will learn about a variety of popular Bayesian Deep Learning methods, and how to implement these through practical Python examples covering a range of application scenarios. By the end of the book, you will have a good understanding of Bayesian Deep Learning and its advantages, and you will be able to develop Bayesian Deep Learning models for safer, more robust deep learning systems.
Table of Contents (11 chapters)

1.5 Setting up the work environment

To complete the practical elements of the book, you’ll need a Python 3.9 environment with the necessary prerequisites. We recommend using conda, a Python package manager specifically designed for scientific computing applications. To install conda, simply head to https://conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/install/index.html and follow the instructions for your operating system.

With conda installed, you can set up the conda environment that you’ll use for the book:

 
conda create -n bdl python=3.9

When you hit Enter to execute this command, you’ll be asked if you wish to continue installing the required packages; simply type y and hit Enter. conda will now proceed to install the core packages.

You can now activate your environment by typing the following:

 
conda activate bdl

You’ll now see that your shell prompt contains bdl, indicating that your conda environment is active. Now you...