To train machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) models you need to be able to accurately track which experiments are working and which are not. Training an effective model may require millions of runs before it is accurate enough to put into production. So how can a team keep track of their ML and AI experiments? That’s where Weights & Biases (W&B) comes in.
Weights & Biases is an AI developer platform that takes the pain out of machine learning experimentation. The platform allows developers to keep records, log successes and failures, and automate manual tasks. You can think of the tool as a “lab notebook”. enabling data scientists and increasingly developers to build and iterate their models faster and more efficiently.
Weights and Biases
Weights & Biases supports various teams around the world through cloud architecture platforms like Azure. Whether it’s revolutionizing healthcare by accelerating drug discovery through protein analysis, optimizing recommendation engines for e-commerce and media, or enhancing autonomous systems for vehicles and drones, Weights & Biases versatility facilitates the development of AI technologies across diverse sectors.
In fact, Yan-David Erlich, Chief Revenue Office of Weights & Biases, believes that machine learning models are unparalleled when built with other like minds. As the industry continues to learn from itself and understand how to best optimize ML training, the key to the future lies in working together.
“I think that the best machine learning models are built collaboratively,” said Erlich. “And we think the best with machine learning models require an understanding of training in massive scale that the likes that you see over at Open AI, for example, that’s training a lot of GPUs and a lot of parallel runs.”
Moreover, the seamless integration with Azure Open AI not only augments the user experience but also facilitates the efficient analysis of fine-tuning experiments.
“One of our unique integrations with Microsoft Azure is specifically with Azure Open AI,” Erlich mentions. “What we’ve built is essentially called an automated logger. Anyone who is optimizing with Azure OpenAI can easily leverage the Weights & Biases platform to analyze their fine-tuning experiments and understand the performance of the model to make the decisions they need to move forward or not.”
Stay curious
Director of Partnerships at Weights & Biases, Scott Juang, advises startups to build for the future they aspire toward, even if their goals feel ambitious. “No matter what stage your company is at, make sure to start building out your partnerships with organizations like Microsoft,” Juang recommends. “Microsoft has programs, funding, and technical help that can really accelerate your development and your business.”
That doesn’t mean creating solutions is all work and no play.
“As a founder, it’s easy to get very laser focused on what you’re currently dealing with today and what the business has been built upon, especially in the space of machine learning and A.I.,” Weights & Biases Chief Information Security Office and co-founder, Chris Van Pelt, tells Microsoft for Startups.
He emphasizes the power of curiosity advising founders to create space for experimentation. As the AI space continues to evolve founders need to embrace the excitement of what is coming next.
Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub members receive Azure cloud credits that can be used towards a variety of Azure services, including Azure OpenAI Service, as well as expert advisory from the team at Microsoft to build and deploy their solutions. Founders Hub is open to all startups and takes just minutes to apply – sign up today.
