Hyperparameters define the strategy for exploring a space in which a machine learning model is being developed. Whereas the parameters of a machine learning model are the actual data coming into a system, the hyperparameters define how those data points are fed into the training process for building a model to be used by an end consumer.

A different set of hyperparameters will yield a different model. Thus, it is important to try different hyperparameter configurations to see which models end up performing better for a given application. Hyperparameter tuning is an art and a science.

Richard Liaw is an engineer and researcher, and the creator of Tune, a library for scalable hyperparameter tuning. Richard joins the show to talk through hyperparameters and the software that he has built for tuning them.