What is transfer learning in artificial intelligence?
Artificial intelligence (AI) has made significant leaps over the last few years, and one of the latest developments in AI is transfer learning. Transfer learning is a machine learning technique that involves using knowledge gained from training one model and applying it to another related model. This approach saves energy, time, and resources while significantly improving the model’s performance.
Transfer learning algorithms have the ability to learn from previous experiences and store that knowledge to perform better on new tasks. Transfer learning is a crucial area of research in the field of AI, and it has many applications ranging from image recognition, natural language processing to robotics.
Here’s how transfer learning works in real-life: Imagine you are learning to play basketball. Before starting, you have learned some general physical movements such as catching and throwing, which increases your motor skills. However, you have never played basketball before and have no idea of the game’s rules. Once you start playing, you will learn the game’s basic rules and strategies unique to basketball, but this knowledge based on general body movements will also help you in improving your performance in the game.
Benefits of transfer learning in artificial intelligence
Transfer learning brings multiple benefits to AI research, and it is widely used in various domains. Here are some of its major advantages:
1. Improved speed of learning
Transfer learning helps speed up the learning process by using the knowledge gained from previous experiences. Because the model is already pre-trained, it saves time by not having to go through the entire training process all over again.
2. Less data and less computation required
With transfer learning, less data is needed to get the model up and running. This is possible because the model is using the pre-trained weights and architectures of previous models, cutting out the extra work required to build a full model from scratch. This saves energy, time, and resources, and resources can be used elsewhere in the model’s development process.
3. Better generalization
Transfer learning improves a model’s performance by generalizing its learnings from one domain to another. With transfer learning, a model can recognize patterns in a domain and apply those patterns to a new domain’s learning. This is particularly useful when working with limited data as it helps to generalize the learnings to a broader domain.
Potential Objections
Despite its many benefits, some researchers argue that transfer learning might not be the best approach. They argue that since transfer learning finds its origins in machine learning, it assumes that both the source and target domains have the same statistical distributions, which is not always realistic in the real world.
Conclusion
Transfer learning has become an essential component of machine learning and artificial intelligence. It has various applications and can be used to solve real-world problems. It enables machines to learn from pre-existing knowledge and apply it to new tasks. Moreover, it reduces the time, resources, and computation required to develop models from scratch, leads to better generalization, and makes the overall learning process much faster. While there are some objections to transfer learning, its advantages outweigh the potential limitations, and it will continue to revolutionize AI research in the coming years.