Pass the Google Machine Learning Engineer Professional-Machine-Learning-Engineer Questions and answers with CertsForce

 A predict request is a way to send data to a trained model and get predictions in return. A predict request can be written in different formats, such as JSON, protobuf, or gRPC, depending on the service and the platform that are used to host and serve the model. A predict request usually contains the following information:

The signature name: This is the name of the signature that defines the inputs and outputs of the model. A signature is a way to specify the expected format, type, and shape of the data that the model can accept and produce. A signature can be specified when exporting or saving the model, or it can be automatically inferred by the service or the platform. A model can have multiple signatures, but only one can be used for each predict request.

The instances: This is the data that is sent to the model for prediction. The instances can be a single instance or a batch of instances, depending on the size and shape of the data. The instances should match the input specification of the signature, such as the number, name, and type of the input tensors.

For the use case of training a text classification model, the correct way to write the predict request is D. data = json.dumps({“signature_name”: “serving_default”, “instances”: [[‘a’, ‘b’], [‘c’, ‘d’], [‘e’, ‘f’]]})

This option involves writing the predict request in JSON format, which is a common and convenient format for sending and receiving data over the web. JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation, and it is a way to represent data as a collection of name-value pairs or an ordered list of values. JSON can be easily converted to and from Python objects using the json module.

This option also involves using the signature name “serving_default”, which is the default signature name that is assigned to the model when it is saved or exported without specifying a custom signature name. The serving_default signature defines the input and output tensors of the model based on the SignatureDef that is shown in the image. According to the SignatureDef, the model expects an input tensor called “text” that has a shape of (-1, 2) and a type of DT_STRING, and produces an output tensor called “softmax” that has a shape of (-1, 2) and a type of DT_FLOAT. The -1 in the shape indicates that the dimension can vary depending on the number of instances, and the 2 indicates that the dimension is fixed at 2. The DT_STRING and DT_FLOAT indicate that the data type is string and float, respectively.

This option also involves sending a batch of three instances to the model for prediction. Each instance is a list of two strings, such as [‘a’, ‘b’], [‘c’, ‘d’], or [‘e’, ‘f’]. These instances match the input specification of the signature, as they have a shape of (3, 2) and a type of string. The model will process these instances and produce a batch of three predictions, each with a softmax output that has a shape of (1, 2) and a type of float. The softmax output is a probability distribution over the two possible classes that the model can predict, such as positive or negative sentiment.

Therefore, writing the predict request as data = json.dumps({“signature_name”: “serving_default”, “instances”: [[‘a’, ‘b’], [‘c’, ‘d’], [‘e’, ‘f’]]}) is the correct and valid way to send data to the text classification model and get predictions in return.

References:

[json — JSON encoder and decoder]

AutoML Edge is a service that allows you to train and deploy custom image classification models for mobile devices12. It supports exporting models as Core ML files, which are compatible with iOS applications3.

Using a Core ML model directly on the device eliminates the need for network requests and reduces prediction latency. It also minimizes the cost of serving predictions, as there is no need to pay for cloud resources or network bandwidth.

Option A is incorrect because sending batch requests during prediction does not reduce latency, as the requests still need to be processed by the cloud service. It also incurs more cost than using a local model on the device.

Option C is incorrect because TFLite models are not compatible with iOS applications. TFLite models are designed for Android and other platforms that support TensorFlow Lite4.

Option D is incorrect because exposing the model as a Vertex AI endpoint requires network requests and cloud resources, which increase latency and cost. It also does not leverage the benefits of AutoML Edge, which is optimized for mobile devices.

A feature cross is a synthetic feature that is obtained by combining two or more existing features, usually by taking their product or concatenation. A feature cross can help to capture the nonlinear and interaction effects between the original features, and improve the predictive performance of the model. A feature cross can be applied to different types of features, such as numeric, categorical, or geospatial features1.

For the use case of building an ML model to predict car sales in different cities around the world, the best option is to use one feature obtained as an element-wise product between binned latitude, binned longitude, and one-hot encoded car type. This option involves creating a feature cross that combines three individual features: binned latitude, binned longitude, and one-hot encoded car type. Binning is a technique that transforms a continuous numeric feature into a discrete categorical feature by dividing its range into equal intervals, or bins. One-hot encoding is a technique that transforms a categorical feature into a binary vector, where each element corresponds to a possible category, and has a value of 1 if the feature belongs to that category, and 0 otherwise. By applying binning and one-hot encoding to the latitude, longitude, and car type features, the feature cross can capture the city-specific relationships between car type and number of sales, as each combination of bins and car types can represent a different city and its preference for a certain car type. For example, the feature cross can learn that a city with a latitude bin of [40, 50], a longitude bin of [-80, -70], and a car type of SUV has a higher number of sales than a city with a latitude bin of [-10, 0], a longitude bin of [10, 20], and a car type of sedan. Therefore, using one feature obtained as an element-wise product between binned latitude, binned longitude, and one-hot encoded car type is the best option for this use case.

References:

Feature Crosses | Machine Learning Crash Course

Cloud Vision API is a service that allows you to analyze images using pre-trained machine learning models1. You can use Cloud Vision API to perform various tasks, such as face detection, text extraction, logo recognition, and object localization1. Object localization is a feature that allows you to detect multiple objects in an image and draw bounding boxes around them2. You can also get the labels and confidence scores for each detected object2.

By sending user-submitted images to the Cloud Vision API, you can use object localization to identify all objects in the image and compare the results against a list of animals. You can use the OBJECT_LOCALIZATION feature type in the AnnotateImageRequest to request object localization3. You can then use the localizedObjectAnnotations field in the AnnotateImageResponse to get the list of detected objects, their labels, and their confidence scores. You can compare the labels with a predefined list of animals, such as dogs, cats, birds, etc., and determine whether the image has an animal or not.

This option is the best for your scenario, because it allows you to automatically and in near real time detect whether each uploaded photo has an animal, without requiring any manual labeling, model training, or model deployment. You can also prioritize time and minimize cost of your application development and deployment, as you can use the Cloud Vision API as a ready-to-use service, without needing any machine learning expertise or infrastructure.

The other options are not suitable for your scenario, because they either require manual labeling, model training, or model deployment, which would increase the time and cost of your application development and deployment, or they use object detection models, which are more complex and computationally expensive than object localization models, and are not necessary for your simple task of detecting whether an image has an animal or not.

References:

Cloud Vision API | Google Cloud

Object localization | Cloud Vision API | Google Cloud

AnnotateImageRequest | Cloud Vision API | Google Cloud

[AnnotateImageResponse | Cloud Vision API | Google Cloud]

Option A is incorrect because training a time-series model to predict the machines’ performance values, and configuring an alert if a machine’s actual performance values significantly differ from the predicted performance values, is not the best way to build a predictive maintenance solution that uses monitoring data from the VMs to detect potential failures and then alerts the service desk team. This option assumes that the performance values follow a predictable pattern, which may not be the case for complex systems. Moreover, this option does not use any historical incident data, which may contain useful information for identifying failures. Furthermore, this option does not involve any model evaluation or validation, which are essential steps for ensuring the quality and reliability of the model.

Option B is correct because implementing a simple heuristic (e.g., based on z-score) to label the machines’ historical performance data, and training a model to predict anomalies based on this labeled dataset, is a reasonable way to build a predictive maintenance solution that uses monitoring data from the VMs to detect potential failures and then alerts the service desk team. This option uses a simple and fast method to label the historical performance data, which is necessary for supervised learning. A z-score is a measure of how many standard deviations a value is away from the mean of a distribution1. By using a z-score, we can label the performance values that are unusually high or low as anomalies, which may indicate failures. Then, we can train a model to learn the patterns of normal and anomalous performance values, and use it to predict anomalies on new data. We can also evaluate and validate the model using metrics such as precision, recall, or F1-score, and compare it with other models or methods.

Option C is incorrect because developing a simple heuristic (e.g., based on z-score) to label the machines’ historical performance data, and testing this heuristic in a production environment, is not a safe way to build a predictive maintenance solution that uses monitoring data from the VMs to detect potential failures and then alerts the service desk team. This option does not involve any model training or evaluation, which are essential steps for ensuring the quality and reliability of the solution. Moreover, this option does not test the heuristic on a separate dataset, such as a validation or test set, before deploying it to production, which may lead to errors or failures in the production environment.

Option D is incorrect because hiring a team of qualified analysts to review and label the machines’ historical performance data, and training a model based on this manually labeled dataset, is not a feasible way to build a predictive maintenance solution that uses monitoring data from the VMs to detect potential failures and then alerts the service desk team. This option may produce high-quality labels, but it is also costly, time-consuming, and prone to human errors or biases. Moreover, this option may not scale well with large or complex datasets, which may require more analysts or more time to label.

References:

Z-score

[Predictive maintenance]

[Anomaly detection]

[Time-series analysis]

[Model evaluation]

NVIDIA A100 GPUs are optimized for training complex models like Stable Diffusion XL. Using float32 precision ensures high model accuracy during training, whereas float16 or bfloat16 may cause lower precision in gradients, especially important for image editing. Distributing across multiple instances with T4 GPUs (Options C and D) would not speed up the process effectively due to lower power and more complex setup requirements.

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Vertex Explainable AI is a set of tools and frameworks to help you understand and interpret predictions made by your machine learning models, natively integrated with a number of Google’s products and services1. With Vertex Explainable AI, you can generate feature-based explanations that show how much each input feature contributed to the model’s prediction2. This can help you debug and improve your model performance, and build confidence in your model’s behavior. Feature-based explanations are supported for custom image classification models deployed on Vertex AI Prediction3. References:

Explainable AI | Google Cloud

Introduction to Vertex Explainable AI | Vertex AI | Google Cloud

Supported model types for feature-based explanations | Vertex AI | Google Cloud

 A data pipeline is a set of steps or processes that move data from one or more sources to one or more destinations, usually for the purpose of analysis, transformation, or storage. A data pipeline can be designed using various components, such as data sources, data processing tools, data storage systems, and data analytics tools1

To design a data pipeline for analyzing customer sentiments in each call, one should consider the following requirements and constraints:

The call center receives over one million calls daily, and data is stored in Cloud Storage. This implies that the data is large, unstructured, and distributed, and requires a scalable and efficient data processing tool that can handle various types of data formats, such as audio, text, or image.

The data collected must not leave the region in which the call originated, and no Personally Identifiable Information (Pll) can be stored or analyzed. This implies that the data is sensitive and subject to data privacy and compliance regulations, and requires a secure and reliable data storage system that can enforce data encryption, access control, and regional policies.

The data science team has a third-party tool for visualization and access which requires a SQL ANSI-2011 compliant interface. This implies that the data analytics tool is external and independent of the data pipeline, and requires a standard and compatible data interface that can support SQL queries and operations.

One of the best options for selecting components for data processing and for analytics is to use Dataflow for data processing and BigQuery for analytics. Dataflow is a fully managed service for executing Apache Beam pipelines for data processing, such as batch or stream processing, extract-transform-load (ETL), or data integration. BigQuery is a serverless, scalable, and cost-effective data warehouse that allows you to run fast and complex queries on large-scale data23

Using Dataflow and BigQuery has several advantages for this use case:

Dataflow can process large and unstructured data from Cloud Storage in a parallel and distributed manner, and apply various transformations, such as converting audio to text, extracting sentiment scores, or anonymizing PII. Dataflow can also handle both batch and stream processing, which can enable real-time or near-real-time analysis of the call data.

BigQuery can store and analyze the processed data from Dataflow in a secure and reliable way, and enforce data encryption, access control, and regional policies. BigQuery can also support SQL ANSI-2011 compliant interface, which can enable the data science team to use their third-party tool for visualization and access. BigQuery can also integrate with various Google Cloud services and tools, such as AI Platform, Data Studio, or Looker.

Dataflow and BigQuery can work seamlessly together, as they are both part of the Google Cloud ecosystem, and support various data formats, such as CSV, JSON, Avro, or Parquet. Dataflow and BigQuery can also leverage the benefits of Google Cloud infrastructure, such as scalability, performance, and cost-effectiveness.

The other options are not as suitable or feasible. Using Pub/Sub for data processing and Datastore for analytics is not ideal, as Pub/Sub is mainly designed for event-driven and asynchronous messaging, not data processing, and Datastore is mainly designed for low-latency and high-throughput key-value operations, not analytics. Using Cloud Function for data processing and Cloud SQL for analytics is not optimal, as Cloud Function has limitations on the memory, CPU, and execution time, and does not support complex data processing, and Cloud SQL is a relational database service that may not scale well for large-scale data. Using Cloud Composer for data processing and Cloud SQL for analytics is not relevant, as Cloud Composer is mainly designed for orchestrating complex workflows across multiple systems, not data processing, and Cloud SQL is a relational database service that may not scale well for large-scale data.

References: 1: Data pipeline 2: Dataflow overview 3: BigQuery overview : [Dataflow documentation] : [BigQuery documentation]

 Customer churn is a binary classification problem, where the target variable is whether a customer has churned or not. Therefore, a logistic regression model is more suitable than a linear regression model, which is used for regression problems. A logistic regression model can output the probability of a customer churning, which can be used to rank the customers by their churn risk and take appropriate actions1.

BigQuery ML is a service that allows you to create and execute machine learning models in BigQuery using standard SQL queries2. You can use BigQuery ML to create a logistic regression model for customer churn prediction by using the CREATE MODEL statement and specifying the LOGISTIC_REG model type3. You can use the historical customer data as the input table for the model, and specify the features and the label columns3.

Vertex AI Model Registry is a central repository where you can manage the lifecycle of your ML models4. You can import models from various sources, such as BigQuery ML, AutoML, or custom models, and assign them to different versions and aliases4. You can also deploy models to endpoints, which are resources that provide a service URL for online prediction.

By registering the BigQuery ML model in Vertex AI Model Registry, you can leverage the Vertex AI features to evaluate and monitor the model performance4. You can use Vertex AI Experiments to track and compare the metrics of different model versions, such as accuracy, precision, recall, and AUC. You can also use Vertex AI Explainable AI to generate feature attributions that show how much each input feature contributed to the model’s prediction.

The other options are not suitable for your scenario, because they either use the wrong model type, such as linear regression, or they do not use Vertex AI to evaluate the model performance, which would limit the insights and actions you can take based on the model results.

References:

Logistic Regression for Machine Learning

Introduction to BigQuery ML | Google Cloud

Creating a logistic regression model | BigQuery ML | Google Cloud

Introduction to Vertex AI Model Registry | Google Cloud

[Deploy a model to an endpoint | Vertex AI | Google Cloud]

[Vertex AI Experiments | Google Cloud]

Deploying the model on GKE with a custom YAML manifest allows maximum control over infrastructure and latency, aligning with the need for low inference time and internal model use. Vertex AI's one-click deployment (Option A) limits control, and deploying on Vertex AI (Option C) doesn’t allow for as much customization as a GKE setup.

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