Episode 32 - Model Training & Testing

In Episode 32 of '100 Days of Data,' Jonas and Amy compare model training to an athlete’s workout routine, emphasizing the critical roles of training, validation, and testing datasets in building reliable AI models. They unpack the function of each data split: the training set teaches the model, the validation set fine-tunes it, and the testing set evaluates its real-world performance. Drawing from industry examples in healthcare, finance, retail, and automotive, they illustrate how improper use—or neglect—of these splits can lead to misleading results and failed deployments. The conversation also introduces techniques like cross-validation to handle small datasets and discusses the importance of transparency and documentation to gain stakeholder trust. This episode bridges foundational AI concepts with practical implementation, empowering listeners to build smarter, more trustworthy models.