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According to research conducted by Glassdoor, on average, the entire interview process conducted by companies in the United Stated usually takes about 22.9 days and the same in Germany, France and the UK takes 4-9 days longer [1]. Another research by the Society for Human Resources that studied data from more than 275,000 members in 160 countries found that the average time taken to fill a position is 42 days [2]. Clearly, hiring is a time-consuming and tedious process. Groundbreaking technologies like cloud computing, big data, augmented reality, virtual reality, blockchain technology and the Internet of Things can play a key role in making this process move faster. Machine learning in human resources is one such technology that has made the recruitment process not just faster but more effective.

Machine learning (ML) is treated as a subset of artificial intelligence (AI). AI is a branch of computer science which deals with building smart machines that are capable of performing certain tasks that typically require human intelligence. Machine learning, by definition, is the study of algorithms that enhance itself automatically over time with more data and experience. It is the science of getting machines (computers) to learn how to think and act like humans. To improve the learnings of a machine learning algorithm, data is fed into it over time in the form of observations and real-world interactions.The algorithms of ML are built on models based on sample or training data to make predictions and decisions without being explicitly programmed to do so.

Machine learning in itself is not a new technology but its integration with the HR function of organizations has been gradual and only recently started to have an impact. In this blog, we talk about how machine learning has contributed in making HR processes easier, how it works and what are its real-world applications. Let us begin by learning about this concept in brief.

The HR departments responsibilities with regards to recruitment used to be gathering and screening resumes, reaching out to candidates that fit the job description, lining up interviews and sending offer letters. It also includes managing a new employees on-boarding process and taking care of the exit process of an employee that decides to leave. Today, the human resource department is about all of this and much more. The department is now also expected to be able to predict employee attrition and candidate success, and this is possible through AI and machine learning in HR.

The objective behind integrating machine learning in human resource processes is the identification and automation of repetitive, time consuming tasks to free up the HR staff. By automating these processes, they can devote more time and resources to other imperative strategic projects and actual human interactions with prospective employees. ML is capable of efficiently handling the following HR roles, tasks and functions:

SEE ALSO:The Role of AI and Machine Learning in Affiliate Marketing

An HR professional keeps track of who saw the job posting and the job portal on which the applicant saw the posting. They collect the CVs and resumes of all the applicants and come up with a way to categorize the data in those documents. Additionally, they schedule, standardize and streamline the entire interview process. Moreover, they keep track of the social media activities of applicants along with other relevant data. All of this data collected by the HR professional is fed into a machine learning HR software from the first day itself. Soon enough, HR analytics in machine learning begins analyzing the data fed to discover and display insights and patterns.

The opportunities of learning through insights provided by machine learning HR are endless. The software helps HR professionals discover things like which interviewer is better at identifying the right candidate and which job portal or job posting attracts more or quality applicants.

With HR analytics and machine learning, fine-tuning and personalization of training is possible which makes the training experience more relevant to the freshly hired employee. It helps in identifying knowledge gaps or loopholes in training early on. It can also become a useful resource for company-related FAQs and information like company policies, code of conduct, benefits and conflict resolution.

The best way to better understand how machine learning has made HR processes more efficient is by getting acquainted with the real world applications of this technology. Let us have a look at some applications below.

SEE ALSO:The Importance of Human Resources Analytics

Scheduling is generally a time-demanding task. It includes coordinating with candidates and scheduling interviews, enhancing the onboarding experience, calling the candidates for follow-ups, performance reviews, training, testing and answering the common HR queries. Automating these tedious processes is one of the first applications of machine learning in human resource. ML takes away the burden of these cumbersome tasks from the HR staff by streamlining and automating it which frees up their time to focus on bigger issues at hand.A few of the best recruitment scheduling software are Beamery, Yello and Avature.

Once an HR professional is informed about the kind of talent that is needed to be hired in a company, one challenge is letting this information out and attracting the right set of candidates that might be fit for the role. Huge amount of companies trust ML for this task. Renowned job search platforms like LinkedIn and Glassdoor use machine learning and intelligent algorithms to help HR professionals filter and find out the best suitable candidates for the job.

Machine learning in human resources is also used to track new and potential applicants as they come into the system. A study was conducted by Capterra to look at how the use of recruitment software or applicant tracking software helped recruiters. It found 75% of the recruiters they contacted used some form of recruitment or applicant tracking software with 94% agreeing that it improved their hiring process. It further found that just 5% of recruiters thought that using applicant tracking software had a negative impact on their company [3].

Using such software also gives the HR professional access to predictive analytics which helps them analyze if the person would be best suitable for the job and a good fit for the company. Some of the best applicant tracking software that are available in the market are Pinpoint, Greenhouse and ClearCompany.

If hiring an employee is difficult, retaining an employee is even more challenging. There are factors in a company that make an employee stay or move to their next job. A study which was conducted by Gallup asked employees from different organizations if theyd leave or stay if certain perks were provided to them. The study found that 37% would quit their present job and take up a new job thatll allow them to work remotely part-time. 54% would switch for monetary bonuses, 51% for flexible working hours and 51% for employers offering retirement plans with pensions [4]. Though employee retention depends on various factors, it is imperative for an HR professional to understand, manage and predict employee attrition.

Machine learning HR tools provide valuable data and insights into the above mentioned factors and help HR professionals make decisions regarding employing someone (or not) more efficiently. By understanding this data about employee turnover, they are in a better position to take corrective measures well in advance to eliminate or minimize the issues.

An engaged employee is one who is involved in, committed to and enthusiastic about their work and workplace. The State of the Global Workforce report by Gallop found that 85% of the employees in the workplace are disengaged. Translation: Majority of the workforce views their workplace negatively or only does the bare minimum to get through the day, with little to no attachment to their work or workplace. The study further addresses why employee engagement is necessary. It found that offices with more engaged employees result in 10% higher customer metrics, 17% higher productivity, 20% more sales and 21% more profitability. Moreover, it found that highly engaged workplaces saw 41% less absenteeism [5].

Machine learning HR software helps the human resource department in making the employees more engaged. The insights provided by HR analytics by machine learning software help the HR team significantly in increasing employee productivity and reducing employee turnover rates. Software from Workometry and Glint aids immeasurable in measuring, analyzing and reporting on employee engagement and the general feeling towards their work.

The applications of machine learning in human resources we read above are already in use by HR professionals across the globe. Though the human element from human resources wont completely disappear, machine learning can guide and assist HR professionals substantially in ensuring the various functions of this department are well aligned and the strategic decisions made on a day-to-day basis are more accurate.

These are definitely exciting times for the HR industry and it is crucial that those working in this department are aware of the existing cutting-edge solutions available and the new trends that continue to develop.

The automation of HR functions like hiring & recruitment, training, development and retention has already made a profound positive effect on companies. Companies that refuse to or are slow to adapt and adopt machine learning and other new technologies will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage while those embrace them happily will flourish.

SEE ALSO:Future of Human Resource Management: HR Tech Trends of 2019

For more updates and latest tech news, keep reading iTMunch

Sources

[1] Glassdoor (2015) Why is Hiring Taking Longer, New Insights from Glassdoor Data [Online] Available from: https://www.glassdoor.com/research/app/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/GD_Report_3-2.pdf [Accessed December 2020]

[2] [Society for Human Resource Management (2016) 2016 Human Capital Benchmarking Report [Online] Available from: https://www.ebiinc.com/wp-content/uploads/attachments/2016-Human-Capital-Report.pdf [Accessed December 2020]

[3] Capterra (2015) Recruiting Software Impact Report [Online] Available from: https://www.capterra.com/recruiting-software/impact-of-recruiting-software-on-businesses [Accessed December 2020]

[4] Gallup (2017) State of the American Workplace Report [Online] Available from: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/238085/state-american-workplace-report-2017.aspx [Accessed December 2020]

[5] Gallup (2017) State of the Global Workplace [Online] Available from: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/238079/state-global-workplace-2017.aspx#formheader [Accessed December 2020]

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Machine learning in human resources: how it works & its real-world applications - iTMunch

Toward the tail end of pre-pandemic 2019, Mayo Clinic Chief Information Officer Cris Ross stood on a stage in California and declared, "This artificial intelligence stuff is real."

Indeed, while some may argue that AI and machine learning might have been harnessed better during the early days of COVID-19, and while the risk of algorithmic bias is very real, there's little question that artificial intelligence, evolving and maturing by the day for an array of use cases across healthcare.

Here are the most-read stories about AI during this most unusual year.

UK to use AI for COVID-19 vaccine side effects. On a day when vaccines, developed in record time, first begin to be administered in the U.S., it's worth remembering AI's crucial role in helping the world get to this hopefully pivotal moment.

AI algorithm IDs abnormal chest X-rays from COVID-19 patients. Machine learning has been a hugely valuable diagnostic tool as well, as illustrated by this story about a tool from cognitive computing vendor behold.ai that promises 'instant triage" based on lung scans offering faster diagnosis of COVID-19 patients and helping with resource allocation.

How AI use cases are evolving in the time of COVID-19. In a HIMSS20 Digital presentation, leaders from Google Cloud, Nuance and Health Data Analytics Institute shared perspective on how AI and automation were being deployed for pandemic response from the hunt for therapeutics and vaccines to analytics to optimize revenue cycle strategies.

Microsoft launches major $40M AI for Health initiative. The company said the the five-year AI for Health (part of its $165 million AI for Good initiative) will help healthcare organizations around the world deploy with leading edge technologies in the service of three key areas: accelerating medical research, improving worldwide understanding to protect against global health crises such as COVID-19 and reducing health inequity.

How AI and machine learning are transforming clinical decision support. "Todays digital tools only scratch the surface," said Mayo Clinic Platform President Dr. John Halamka. "Incorporating newly developed algorithms that take advantage of machine learning, neural networks, and a variety of other types of artificial intelligence can help address many of the shortcomings of human intelligence."

Clinical AI vendor Jvion unveils COVID Community Vulnerability Map. In the very early days of the pandemic, clinical AI company Jvion launched this intereactive map, which tracks the social determinants of health, helping identify populations down to the census-block level that are at risk for severe outcomes.

AI bias may worsen COVID-19 health disparities for people of color. An article in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association asserts that biased data models could further the disproportionate impact the COVID-19 pandemic is already having on people of color. "If not properly addressed, propagating these biases under the mantle of AI has the potential to exaggerate the health disparities faced by minority populations already bearing the highest disease burden," said researchers.

The origins of AI in healthcare, and where it can help the industry now. "The intersection of medicine and AI is really not a new concept," said Dr. Taha Kass-Hout, director of machine learning and chief medical officer at Amazon Web Services. (There were limited chatbots and other clinical applications as far back as the mid-60s.) But over the past few years, it has become ubiquitous across the healthcare ecosystem. "Today, if youre looking at PubMed, it cites over 12,000 publications with deep learning, over 50,000 machine learning," he said.

AI, telehealth could help address hospital workforce challenges. "Labor is the largest single cost for most hospitals, and the workforce is essential to the critical mission of providing life-saving care," noted a January American Hospital Association report on the administrative, financial, operational and clinical uses of artificial intelligence. "Although there are challenges, there also are opportunities to improve care, motivate and re-skill staff, and modernize processes and business models that reflect the shift toward providing the right care, at the right time, in the right setting."

AI is helping reinvent CDS, unlock COVID-19 insights at Mayo Clinic. In a HIMSS20 presentation, JohnHalamka shared some of the most promising recent clinical decision support advances at the Minnesota health system and described how they're informing treatment decisions for an array of different specialties and helping shape its understanding of COVID-19. "Imagine the power [of] an AI algorithm if you could make available every pathology slide that has ever been created in the history of the Mayo Clinic," he said. "That's something we're certainly working on."

Twitter:@MikeMiliardHITNEmail the writer:mike.miliard@himssmedia.comHealthcare IT News is a HIMSS publication.

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Top 10 AI and machine learning stories of 2020 - Healthcare IT News

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are certainly not new industries. As early as the 1950s, the term machine learning was introduced by IBM AI pioneer Arthur Samuel. It has been in recent years wherein AI and ML have seen significant growth. IDC, for one, estimates the market for AI to be valued at $156.5 billion in 2020 with a 12.3 percent growth over 2019. Even amid global economic uncertainties, this market is set to grow to $300 billion by 2024, a compound annual growth of 17.1 percent.

There are challenges to be overcome, however, as AI becomes increasingly interwoven into real-world applications and industries. While AI has seen meaningful use in behavioral analysis and marketing, for instance, it is also seeing growth in many business processes.

"The role of AI Applications in enterprises is rapidly evolving. It is transforming how your customers buy, your suppliers deliver, and your competitors compete. AI applications continue to be at the forefront of digital transformation (DX) initiatives, driving both innovation and improvement to business operations," said Ritu Jyoti, program vice president, Artificial Intelligence Research at IDC.

Even with the increasing utilization of sensors and internet-of-things, there is only so much that machines can learn from real-world environments. The limitations come in the form of cost and replicable scenarios. Heres where synthetic data will play a big part

Dor Herman

We need to teach algorithms what it is exactly that we want them to look for, and thats where ML comes in. Without getting too technical, algorithms need a training process, where they go through incredible amounts of annotated data, data that has been marked with different identifiers. And this is, finally, where synthetic data comes in, says Dor Herman, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of OneView, a Tel Aviv-based startup that accelerates ML training with the use of synthetic data.

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Herman says that real-world data can oftentimes be either inaccessible or too expensive to use for training AI. Thus, synthetic data can be generated with built-in annotations in order to accelerate the training process and make it more efficient. He cites four distinct advantages of using synthetic data over real-world data in ML: cost, scale, customization, and the ability to train AI to make decisions on scenarios that are not likely to occur in real-world scenarios.

You can create synthetic data for everything, for any use case, which brings us to the most important advantage of synthetic data--its ability to provide training data for even the rarest occurrences that by their nature dont have real coverage.

Herman gives the example of oil spills, weapons launches, infrastructure damage, and other such catastrophic or rare events. Synthetic data can provide the needed data, data that could have not been obtained in the real world, he says.

Herman cites a case study wherein a client needed AI to detect oil spills. Remember, algorithms need a massive amount of data in order to learn what an oil spill looks like and the company didnt have numerous instances of oil spills, nor did it have aerial images of it.

Since the oil company utilized aerial images for ongoing inspection of their pipelines, OneView applied synthetic data instead. we created, from scratch, aerial-like images of oil spills according to their needs, meaning, in various weather conditions, from different angles and heights, different formations of spills--where everything is customized to the type of airplanes and cameras used.

This would have been an otherwise costly endeavor. Without synthetic data, they would never be able to put algorithms on the detection mission and will need to continue using folks to go over hours and hours of detection flights every day.

With synthetic data, users can define the parameters for training AI, in order for better decision-making once real-world scenarios occur. The OneView platform can generate data customized to their needs. An example involves training computer vision to detect certain inputs based on sensor or visual data.

You input your desired sensor, define the environment and conditions like weather, time of day, shooting angles and so on, add any objects-of-interest--and our platform generates your data; fully annotated, ready for machine learning model training datasets, says Herman.

Annotation also has advantages over real-world data, which will often require manual annotation, which takes extensive time and cost to process. The swift and automated process that produces hundreds of thousands of images replaces a manual, prolonged, cumbersome and error-prone process that hinders computer vision ML algorithms from racing forward, he adds.

OneViews synthetic data generation involves a six-layer process wherein 3D models are created using gaming engines and then flattened to create 2D images.

We start with the layout of the scene so to speak, where the basic elements of the environment are laid out The next step is the placement of objects-of-interest that are the goal of detection, the objects that the algorithms will be trained to discover. We also put in distractors, objects that are similar so the algorithms can learn how to differentiate the goal object from similar-looking objects. Then the appearance building stage follows, when colors, textures, random erosions, noises, and other detailed visual elements are added to mimic how real images look like, with all their imperfections, Herman shares.

The fourth step involves the application of conditions such as weather and time of the day. For the fifth step, sensor parameters (the camera lens type) are implemented, meaning, we adapt the entire image to look like it was taken by a specific remote sensing system, resolution-wise, and other unique technical attributes each system has. Lastly, annotations are added.

Annotations are the marks that are used to define to the algorithm what it is looking at. For example, the algorithm can be trained that this is a car, this is a truck, this is an airplane, and so on. The resulting synthetic datasets are ready for machine learning model training.

For Herman, the biggest contribution of synthetic data is actually paradoxical. By using synthetic data, AI and AI users get a better understanding of the real world and how it works--through machine learning. Image analytics comes with bottlenecks in processing, and computer vision algorithms cannot scale unless this bottleneck is overcome.

Remote sensing data (imagery captured by satellites, airplanes and drones) provides a unique channel to uncover valuable insights on a very large scale for a wide spectrum of industries. In order to do that, you need computer vision AI as a way to study these vast amounts of data collected and return intelligence, Herman explains.

Next, this intelligence is transformed to insights that help us better understand this planet we live on, and of course drive decision making, whether by governments or businesses. The massive growth in computing power enabled the flourishing of AI in recent years, but the collection and preparation of data for computer vision machine learning is the fundamental factor that holds back AI.

He circles back to how OneView intends to reshape machine learning: releasing this bottleneck with synthetic data so the full potential of remote sensing imagery analytics can be realized and thus a better understanding of earth emerges.

The main driver behind Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning is, of course, business and economic value. Countries, enterprises, businesses, and other stakeholders benefit from the advantages that AI offers, in terms of decision-making, process improvement, and innovation.

The Big message OneView brings is that we enable a better understanding of our planet through the empowerment of computer vision, concludes Herman. Synthetic data is not fake data. Rather, it is purpose-built inputs that enable faster, more efficient, more targeted, and cost-effective machine learning that will be responsive to the needs of real-world decision-making processes.

Read more:
How This CEO is Using Synthetic Data to Reshape Machine Learning for Real-World Applications - Yahoo Finance

Spain has been one the European states worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 1.7 million detected cases. Despite the second wave of infections that has hit the country over the past few months, the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona has succeeded in halving mortality among its coronavirus patients using artificial intelligence.

The Catalan hospital has developed a machine-learning tool that can predict when a COVID patient will deteriorate and how to customize that individual's treatment to avoid the worst outcome.

"When you have a sole patient who's in a critical state, you can take special care of them. But when they are 700 of them, you need this kind of tool," says Carol Garcia-Vidal, a physician specialized in infectious diseases and IDIBAPS researcher who has led the development of the tool.

SEE: Managing AI and ML in the enterprise 2020: Tech leaders increase project development and implementation (TechRepublic Premium)

Before the pandemic, the hospital had already been working on software to turn variable data into an analyzable form. So when the hospital started to receive COVID patients in March, it put the system to work analyzing three trillion pieces of structured and anonymized data from 2,000 patients.

The goal was to train it to recognize patterns and check what treatments were the most effective for each patient and when they should be administered.

That work underlined to Garcia-Vidal and her team that the virus doesn't manifest itself in the same way for everyone. "There are patients with an inflammatory response, patients with coagulopathies and patients who develop super infections," Garca-Vidal tells ZDNet. Each group needs different drugs and thus a personalized treatment.

Thanks to an EIT Health grant, the AI system has been developed into a real-time dashboard display on physicians' computers that has become one of their everyday tools. Under the supervision of an epidemiologist, the tool enables patients to be classified and offered a more personalized treatment.

"Nobody has done this before," says Garca-Vidal, who says the researchers recently added two more patterns to the system to include the patients who are stable and can leave the hospital, thus freeing a bed, and those patients who are more likely to die. The predictions are 90% accurate.

"It's very useful for physicians with less experience and those who have a specialty that's nothing to do with COVID, such as gynecologists or traumatologists," she says. As in many countries, doctors from all specialist areas were called in to treat patients during the first wave of the pandemic.

The system is also being used during the current second wave because, according to Garca-Vidal, the number of patients in intensive care in Catalan hospitals has jumped. The plan is to make the tool available to other hospitals.

Meanwhile, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) is also analyzing a set of data corresponding to 3,000 medical cases generated by the Hospital Clnic during the acute phase of the pandemic in March.

The aim is to develop a model based on deep-learning neural networks that will look for common patterns and generate predictions on the evolution of symptoms. The objective is to know whether a patient is likely to need a ventilator system or be directly sent to intensive care.

SEE: The algorithms are watching us, but who is watching the algorithms?

Some data such as age, sex, vital signs and medication given is structured but other data isn't, because it consists of text written in natural language in the form of, for example, hospital discharge and radiology reports, BSC researcher Marta Villegas explains.

Supercomputing brings the computational capacity and power to extract essential information from these reports and train models based on neural networks to predict the evolution of the disease as well as the response to treatments given the previous conditions of the patients.

This approach, based on natural language processing, is also being tested at a hospital in Madrid.

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AI: This COVID machine-learning tool helps swamped hospitals pick the right treatment - ZDNet

Lomit Patel, VP of growth at IMVU and best-selling author of Lean AI, shares lessons learned and practical advice for app marketers to unlock open budgets and sustainable growth with machine learning.

The first step in the automation journey is to identify where you and your team stand. In his book Lean AI: How Innovative Startups Use Artificial Intelligence to Grow, Lomit introduces the Lean AI Autonomy Scale, which ranks companies from 0 to 5 based on their level of AI & automation adoption.

A lot of companies arent fully relying on AI and automation to power their growth strategies. In fact, on a Lean AI Autonomy Scale from 0 to 5, most companies are at stage 2 or 3, where they rely on the AI of some of their partners without fully garnering the potential of these tools.

Heres how app marketers can start working their way up to level 5:

Put your performance strategy to the test by setting the right indicators. Marketers KPIs should be geared towards measuring growth. Identify the metrics that show whats driving more user quality conversions and revenue, such as:

Analyzing data is a critical step towards measuring success through the right KPIs. When getting data ready to be automated and processed with AI, marketers should make sure:

The better the data, the more effective decisions it will allow you to take. By aggregating data, marketers gain a comprehensive view of their efforts, which in turn leads to a better understanding of success metrics.

Youve got to make sure that youre giving them [partners] the right data so that their algorithms can optimize towards your outcomes and clearly define what success is. Lomit Patel.

The role of AI is not to replace jobs or people, but to replace tasks that people do, letting them focus on the things they are good at.

With Lean AI, the machine does a lot of the heavy lifting, allowing marketers to process data and surface insights in a way that wasnt possible beforeand with more data, the accuracy rate continues to go up.

It can be used to:

With our AI machine, were constantly testing different audiences, creatives, bids, budgets, and moving all of those different dials. On average, were generally running about ten thousand experiments at scale. A majority of those are based on creatives, its become a much bigger lever for us. Lomit Patel.

Theres a reason why growth partners have been around for a long time. For a lot of companies, the hassle of taking all marketing operations in-house doesnt make sense. At first, building a huge in-house data science team might seem like a great way to start leveraging AIbut:

Performance partners bring experience from working with multiple players across a number of verticals, making it easier to identify and implement the most effective automation strategy for each marketer. Their knowledge about industry benchmarks and best practices goes a long way in helping marketers outscore their competitors.

Last but not least, once you find the right partners, set them up for success by sharing the right data.

These recommendations are the takeaways from the first episode of App Marketers Unplugged. Created by Jampp, this video podcast series connects industry leaders and influencers to discuss challenges and trends with their peers.

Watch the full App Marketers Unplugged session with Lomit Patel to learn more about how Lean AI can help you gain users insights more efficiently and what marketers need to sail through the automation journey.

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4 tips to upgrade your programmatic advertising with Machine Learning - Customer Think