AI Project Cycle

The AI project cycle is a cyclic process that defines each and every step towards solving a given problem.
The five stages of AI project cycle are:-

1. Problem Scoping
2. Data acquisition
3. Data Exploration
4. Modelling
5. Evaluation

2.1. Problem Scoping

Problem Scoping is the first stage of Ai. It is all about identifying a problem and having some ideas and
visions to find a solution to the problem.

To understand this better, let us take a theme and find our goal or vision for the problem under the
theme : Let’s take the theme Gender Equality, under it, some topics are:-

1. Gender stereotypes
2. Preventing violence against women
3. Inequalities in corporate world etc….

Let’s select one topic under it and make a list of problems, say we selected Inequalities in corporate
world, some problems are:-

1. Unequal salaries
2. Non inclusive behavior
3. Gender stereotypes in workplace etc..

Now that we have a list of problems we can start working towards a solution for them. If we choose the
problem unequal salaries, our goal would be that “all employees regardless of their gender, if are on the
same post, should be paid equal salaries.”

While searching for the goal, we need to ask ourselves, Who? What? Where? Why? These are known as
the 4Ws of Problem Scoping.

1. Who? The “Who” block helps you in analysing the people getting affected directly or indirectly
due to it. Under this, you find out who the ‘Stakeholders’ to this problem are and what you
know about them. Stakeholders are the people who face this problem and would be benefitted
with the solution.
 2. What? Under the “What” block, you need to look into what you have on hand. At this stage, you
need to determine the nature of the problem. What is the problem and how do you know that it
is a problem? Under this block, you also gather evidence to prove that the problem you have
selected actually exists. Newspaper articles, Media, announcements, etc are some examples.
3. Where? Now that you know who is associated with the problem and what the problem actually
is; you need to focus on the context/situation/location of the problem. This block will help you
look into the situation in which the problem arises, the context of it, and the locations where it
is prominent.
4. Why? Now it is convenient to understand who the people that would be benefitted by the
solution are; what is to be solved; and where will the solution be deployed. These three
canvases now become the base of why you want to solve this problem. Thus in the “Why”
canvas, think about the benefits which the stakeholders would get from the solution and how
would it benefit them.

1. Who?
a. Who are the stakeholders?
b. What do we know about them?
2. What?
a. What is the problem?
b. How do you that it is a problem? (is there an evidence?)
3. Where?
a. What is the context/situation the stakeholders experience this problem?
b. Where is the problem located?
4. Why?
a. What would hold value for the stakeholders?
b. How will the solution improve their situation?

The Problem Statement Template helps us to summarise all the key points into one single Template so
that in future, whenever there is need to look back at the basis of the problem, we can take a look at the
Problem Statement Template and understand the key elements of it.

2.2 Data Acquisition

Data Acquisition is about acquiring data for the project. Data can be a piece of information or facts and
statistics collected together for reference or analysis.

1. The training data is an initial set of data used to help a program understand how to

apply technologies
2. The next prediction data set is known as Testing Data.
Data Features:- Data features refer to the type of data you want to collect.

Acquiring Data from reliable sources :- Collecting data from a reliable and trustable resource is very
important as it forms the base of the whole project. Some reliable sources of data are : Surveys, Sensors,
Cameras, Web Scrapping etc.

System maps
A system map shows the components and boundaries of a system and the components of the
environment at a specific point in time. With the help of System Maps, one can easily define a
relationship amongst different elements which come under a system.

We use system maps to understand complex issues with multiple factors that affect each other.

 In a system, every element is interconnected. In a system map, we try to represent that

relationship through the use of arrows.
 Within a system map, we will identify loops. These loops are important because they represent
a specific chain of causes and effects. A system typically has several chains of causes and effects.
You may notice that some arrows are longer than others.
 A longer arrow represents a longer time for a change to happen. We also call this a time delay.
 It is usually more effective to change the relationship between elements in a system. You may
also notice the use of ‘+’ signs and ‘-’ signs. These are an indicator of the nature of the
relationship between elements.

Water Cycle System map

 2.3.Data Exploration
Data Exploration is the stage where we analyse the data and visiulise it in a user friendly format
to understand it better. Some visual data representations are:-
1. Line graphs
2. Bar graphs
3. Donut charts
4. Flow chart
5. Histogram etc….

Let us consider we are making a project to analyse how many rewards to give a child, some data
features would be hours studied, hours of tv, video games, activity etc.

Under this lets take the data feature hours studied and answer the question how will we
represent he data and why?
We will represent this data in bar graph as it gives a easy and visually understandable
representation.

2.4 Modelling
Before jumping into modelling let us clarify the definitions of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine
Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL).

1. Artificial Intelligence, or AI, refers to any technique that enables computers to mimic human
intelligence. The AI-enabled machines think algorithmically and execute what they have been asked
for intelligently.
2. Machine Learning, or ML, enables machines to improve at tasks with experience. The machine
learns from its mistakes and takes them into consideration in the next execution. It improvises itself
using its own experiences.
3. Deep Learning, or DL, enables software to train itself to perform tasks with vast amounts of data.
In deep learning, the machine is trained with huge amounts of data which helps it into training itself
around the data. Such machines are intelligent enough to develop algorithms for themselves.

AI Modelling refers to developing algorithms, also called models which can be trained to get
intelligent outputs. That is, writing codes to make a machine artificially intelligent.

A.I model :-
The ability to mathematically describe the relationship between parameters is the heart of every AI
model. Thus, whenever we talk about developing AI models, it is the mathematical approach
towards analysing data which we refer to.
 1. Rule based model
Rule Based Approach Refers to the AI modelling where the relationship or patterns in data are
defined by the developer. The machine follows the rules or instructions mentioned by the
developer, and performs its task accordingly.
2. Learning Based Approach
Refers to the AI modelling where the relationship or patterns in data are not defined by the
developer. In this approach, random data is fed to the machine and it is left on the machine to
figure out patterns and trends out of it. Generally this approach is followed when the data is
unlabelled and too random for a human to make sense out of it. Thus, the machine looks at the
data, tries to extract similar features out of it and clusters same datasets together. In the end as
output, the machine tells us about the trends which it observed in the training data.

Modelling
AI Modelling refers to developing algorithms, also called models which can be trained to get intelligent
outputs. That is, writing codes to make a machine artificially intelligent.

Decision tree
It is a rule-based AI model which helps the machine in predicting what an element is with the help of
various decisions
The beginning point of any Decision Tree is known as its Root. It then forks into two different ways or
conditions: Yes or No. The forks or diversions are known as Branches of the tree. The branches either
lead to another question, or they lead to a decision like Go to Sleep which is known as the leaf. If you
look closely at the image above, you would notice that it looks like an inverted tree with root above and
the leaves below

Pixel activity
What have we learnt?
Pixel It activity is an example of how computers see images, process them and classify them. This kind
of Machine Learning approach is commonly used in Computer Vision related applications. Every image
which is fed to the computer is divided into pixels (which are the smallest unit of an image). The
Computer analyses each pixel and if it has to compare 2 pictures to check if they are similar or not, pixel-
wise comparison takes place. If pixels are identical, this means that the images are the same.

2.5 Evalution
As you move towards deploying your model in the real-world, you test it in as many ways as possible.
The stage of testing the models is known as Evaluation. In this stage, we evaluate each and every model
tried and choose the model which gives the most efficient and reliable results.