AI definitions: Predictive Analytics
/Predictive Analytics - This method of speculating about future events uses past data to make recommendations. Researchers create complex mathematical algorithms in an effort to discover patterns in the data. One doesn't know in advance what data is important. The statistical models created by predictive analytics are designed to discover which of the pieces of data will predict the desired outcome. While correlation is not causation, a cause-and-effect relationship is not needed in order to make predictions. This process is ideal for anticipating, for instance, what a user is most likely to be interested in based on past behavior and user characteristics. However, after gathering this data, data scientists often turn to causal AI to gauge its impact on user behavior. Some people use the terms “predictive analytics” and “predictive AI” interchangeably, while others treat “predictive analytics” as a broader term that includes non-AI methods such as statistical modeling and regression analysis. While predictive analytics focuses on forecasting future outcomes, generative AI focuses on creating new content. This makes predictive analytics useful for applications such as financial forecasting and health diagnosis, while generative AI is an application for content creation, art and design.