The AI Project Cycle

The AI Project Cycle is a cycle/order of an AI Project which defines every step an

organization must take to harness/get value (Monetary or others) from that AI Project to
get more ROI (Return on Investment).
You might have seen AI Project Cycle images Starting from ‘Problem
Scoping’, ignoring ‘Problem Identification’, But in this article we will
discuss about the one with ‘Problem Identification’ which is a more
accurate representation.

Problem Scoping: Whenever we are starting any work, certain

problems always associated with the work or process. These problems
can be small or big, sometimes we ignore them, sometimes we need
urgent solutions. Problem scoping is the process by which we figure out
the problem that we need to solve.

The 4Ws Canvas

The 4Ws Canvas: The 4Ws Canvas is a helpful tool in Problem

Scoping. Basically, questions which help us understand the problems in a
better, more structured way.

 Who?: Refers that who is facing a problem, who the stakeholders of

the problem are and who are affected because of the problem.

 What?: Refers to what the problem is and what you know about the
problem. What is the nature of the problem? Can it be explained
simply? How do you know it’s a problem? What is the evidence to
support that the problem exists? What solutions are possible in this
situation? etc. At this stage, you need to determine the exact nature of
the problem.
 Where?: It is related to the context or situation or location of the
problem, focus on the context/situation/location of the problem.

 Why?: Refers to the reason we need to solve the problem, the

benefits which the stakeholders would get from the solution and how
would it benefit them as well as the society, what are the benefits to
the stakeholders after solving the problem.

Problem Identification: Problem Identification consists of:

 Clear identification of the problem, finding the root cause of the

problem.
 Identify the ‘true’, underlying problem.
 Framing the Problem Correctly. (Framing is a Structural
Representation of a Problem or an Issue, it involves explaining and
describing the context of the problem to facilitate better
understanding).

The Problem isn’t always clear. You may think that the Tip of the Iceberg
is the problem, but in most cases, it's not. In many cases, the problems
are not obvious, the problem may look small, but digging deep and down
into the problem, we will realize that the problem has a lot to it, and that
the beginning is nothing.

Data Acquisition: Data Acquisition consists of two words:

 Data: Data refers to the raw facts, figures, information, or statistics.

 Acquisition: Acquisition refers to acquiring data for the project.

So, Data Acquisition means Acquiring Data needed to solve the problem.
DATA MAY BE THE PROPERTY OF SOMEONE ELSE, AND THE USE
OF THAT DATA WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION IS NOT
ACCEPTABLE.

But there are some sources from which we can collect data, no hassle
whatsoever. Let’s Take a Look:

Components of Primary and Secondary Data

Types of Data

There are 2 Types of data in this case, Primary and Secondary, let’s take a
look at both.

 Primary Data: Primary data is the kind of data that is collected

directly from the data source. It is mostly collected specially for a
research project and may be shared publicly to be used for another
research. Primary data is often reliable and authentic. Primary data is
also real-time as it is collected whenever needed, and not stored.
 Secondary Data: Secondary data is the data that has been
collected in the past by someone else and made available for others to
use. Secondary data is usually easily accessible to researchers and
individuals because they are shared publicly. This, however, means
that the data is usually general and not specific, and this type of data
could be outdated and not fit for the individual’s use.

Data Exploration: Data exploration is the first step of data analysis

which is used to visualize data to uncover insights from the start or
identify areas or patterns to dive into and dig more. It allows for a deeper,
more detailed, and better understanding of the data. Data
Visualization is a part of this where we visualize and present the data in
terms of tables, pie charts, bar graphs, line graphs, bubble chart,
choropleth map etc. For a full list of the different Data Visualization tools,
click here. This provides a common, consistent, and predictable way of
defining and managing data resources.
Data Visualization Techniques

Modelling: First of, what is an AI Model? An AI model is a program or

algorithm that utilizes a set of data that enables it to recognize certain
patterns. This allows it to reach a conclusion or make a prediction when
provided with sufficient information. Now, what is Modelling? Modelling
is the process in which different models based on the visualized data can
be created and even checked for the advantages and disadvantages of the
model.

There are 2 Approaches to make a Machine Learning Model.

Learning Based Approach: Learning Based Approach is based on
Machine Learning experience with the data fed.

The Different Types of Learning Based Approaches are:

Supervised Learning

 Supervised Learning: The data that you have collected here is

labelled and so you know what input needs to be mapped to what
output. This helps you correct your algorithm if it makes a mistake in
giving you the answer. Supervised Learning is used in classifying mail
as spam.

 Unsupervised Learning: The data collected here has no labels

and you are unsure about the outputs. So, you model your algorithm
such that it can understand patterns from the data and output the
required answer. You do not interfere when the algorithm learns.

 Reinforcement Learning: There is no data in this kind of

learning, you model the algorithm such that it interacts with the
environment and if the algorithm does a decent job, you reward it,
else you punish the algorithm. (Reward or Penalty Policy). With
continuous interactions and learning, it goes from being bad to being
the best that it can for the problem assigned to it.

Rule Based Approach: A rule-based system uses rules as the

knowledge representation.
These rules are coded into the system in the form of if-then-else
statements.

The main idea of a rule-based system is to capture the knowledge of a

human expert in a specialized domain and embed it within a computer
system.

A rule-based system is like a human being born with fixed knowledge.

The knowledge of that human being doesn’t change over time.

This implies that, when this human being encounters a problem for
which no rules have been designed, then this human gets stuck and so
won’t be able to solve the problem. In a sense, the human being doesn’t
even understand the problem.

Level After Evaluation

Evaluation: The method of understanding the reliability of an API

Evaluation and is based on the outputs which is received by the feeding
the data into the model and comparing the output with the actual
answers.
Deployment

Deployment: Deployment is the method by which you integrate a

machine learning model into an existing production environment to
make practical business decisions based on data.

To start using a model for practical decision-making, it needs to be

effectively deployed into production.

If you cannot reliably get practical insights from your model, then the
impact of the model is severely limited, and it is useless.