Probabilistic Machine Learning for Finance and Investing: A Primer to the Next Generation of AI with Python

There are several reasons why probabilistic machine learning represents the next-generation ML framework and technology for finance and investing. This generative ensemble learns continually from small and noisy financial datasets while seamlessly enabling probabilistic inference, retrodiction, prediction, and counterfactual reasoning. Probabilistic ML also lets you systematically encode personal, empirical, and institutional knowledge into ML models.

Whether they're based on academic theories or ML strategies, all financial models are subject to modeling errors that can be mitigated but not eliminated. Probabilistic ML systems treat uncertainties and errors of financial and investing systems as features, not bugs. And they quantify uncertainty generated from inexact inputs and outputs as probability distributions, not point estimates. This makes for realistic financial inferences and predictions that are useful for decision-making and risk management.

Unlike conventional AI, these systems are capable of warning us when their inferences and predictions are no longer useful in the current market environment. By moving away from flawed statistical methodologies and a restrictive conventional view of probability as a limiting frequency, you'll move toward an intuitive view of probability as logic within an axiomatic statistical framework that comprehensively and successfully quantifies uncertainty. This book shows you how.

Deepak Kanungo is an algorithmic derivatives trader, instructor, and CEO of Hedged Capital LLC, an AI-powered proprietary trading company. Since 2019, Deepak has taught tens of thousands of O'Reilly Media subscribers worldwide the concepts, processes, and machine learning technologies for algorithmic trading, investing and finance with Python.

In 2005, long before machine learning was an industry buzzword, Deepak invented a probabilistic machine learning method and software system for managing the risks and returns of project portfolios. It is a unique probabilistic framework that has been cited by IBM and Accenture, among others.

Previously, Deepak was a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley, a Silicon Valley fintech entrepreneur, a director in the Global Planning Department at Mastercard International and a senior analyst with Diamond Technology Partners. He was educated at Princeton University (astrophysics) and The London School of Economics (finance and information systems).