For full details, including the address, and to RSVP see: http://www.meetup.com/boston-scala/events/104453472/ Full title: Democratizing Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence: Probabilistic Programming with Scala Speaker: Brian Ruttenberg Abstract: Probabilistic models form the foundation of modern ML and AI. However, building and using models that represent large and complex scenarios is a daunting task for even the most expert and experienced programmers. As a result, there has been significant effort lately on the development of probabilistic programming languages, enabling probabilistic processes and algorithms to be specified using programming language constructs. These languages allow users to quickly and easily construct probabilistic models with little ML and AI experience. In this talk, I will discuss Figaro, an open source, Scala-based probabilistic programming language. I will focus mostly on how to use the language, how it is integrated with Scala, why we chose Scala as the base language, and present some examples of what one can do with Figaro. Experience in ML and AI should not be necessary to follow the talk.