Google Professional Machine Learning Engineer Practice Test - Questions Answers, Page 26

TPU VMs with TPUv3 Pod slices are the most scalable and performant option for training large-scale recommender models on Google Cloud. TPUv3 Pods can provide up to 2048 cores and 32 TB of memory, and can process billions of examples and features in minutes. The TPUEmbedding API is designed to efficiently handle large-scale categorical features and embeddings, and can reduce the memory footprint and communication overhead of the model. The other options are either less scalable (B and C) or less efficient (D) for this use case.

The best option for investigating the tradeoffs between different parameter combinations is to create an experiment in Vertex AI Experiments, create a Vertex AI pipeline with a custom model training job as part of the pipeline, configure the pipeline's parameters to include those you are investigating, and submit multiple runs to the same experiment using different values for the parameters. This option allows you to leverage the power and flexibility of Google Cloud to compare the pipeline performance of the different parameter combinations measured in F1 score, time to train, and model complexity. Vertex AI Experiments is a service that can track and compare the results of multiple machine learning runs. Vertex AI Experiments can record the metrics, parameters, and artifacts of each run, and display them in a dashboard for easy visualization and analysis.Vertex AI Experiments can also help users optimize the hyperparameters of their models by using different search algorithms, such as grid search, random search, or Bayesian optimization1. Vertex AI Pipelines is a service that can orchestrate machine learning workflows using Vertex AI. Vertex AI Pipelines can run preprocessing and training steps on custom Docker images, and evaluate, deploy, and monitor the machine learning model. A custom model training job is a type of pipeline step that can train a custom model by using a user-provided script or container. A custom model training job can accept pipeline parameters as inputs, which can be used to control the training logic or data source. By creating an experiment in Vertex AI Experiments, creating a Vertex AI pipeline with a custom model training job as part of the pipeline, configuring the pipeline's parameters to include those you are investigating, and submitting multiple runs to the same experiment using different values for the parameters, you can create a reproducible and trackable approach to investigate the tradeoffs between different parameter combinations.

The other options are not as good as option D, for the following reasons:

Option A: Using BigQuery ML to create a boosted tree regressor and use the hyperparameter tuning capability, configuring the hyperparameter syntax to select different input datasets, max tree depths, and optimizer learning rates, and choosing the grid search option would not be able to handle different input datasets as a hyperparameter, and would not be as flexible and scalable as using Vertex AI Experiments and Vertex AI Pipelines. BigQuery ML is a service that can create and train machine learning models by using SQL queries on BigQuery. BigQuery ML can perform hyperparameter tuning by using the ML.FORECAST or ML.PREDICT functions, and specifying the hyperparameters option. BigQuery ML can also use different search algorithms, such as grid search, random search, or Bayesian optimization, to find the optimal hyperparameters. However, BigQuery ML can only tune the hyperparameters that are related to the model architecture or training process, such as max tree depth or learning rate. BigQuery ML cannot tune the hyperparameters that are related to the data source, such as input dataset.Moreover, BigQuery ML is not designed to work with Vertex AI Experiments or Vertex AI Pipelines, which can provide more features and flexibility for tracking and orchestrating machine learning workflows2.

Option B: Creating a Vertex AI pipeline with a custom model training job as part of the pipeline, configuring the pipeline's parameters to include those you are investigating, and using the Bayesian optimization method with F1 score as the target to maximize in the custom training step would not be able to track and compare the results of multiple runs, and would require more skills and steps than using Vertex AI Experiments and Vertex AI Pipelines. Vertex AI Pipelines is a service that can orchestrate machine learning workflows using Vertex AI. Vertex AI Pipelines can run preprocessing and training steps on custom Docker images, and evaluate, deploy, and monitor the machine learning model. A custom model training job is a type of pipeline step that can train a custom model by using a user-provided script or container. A custom model training job can accept pipeline parameters as inputs, which can be used to control the training logic or data source. However, using the Bayesian optimization method with F1 score as the target to maximize in the custom training step would require writing code, implementing the optimization algorithm, and defining the objective function.Moreover, this option would not be able to track and compare the results of multiple runs, as Vertex AI Pipelines does not have a built-in feature for recording and displaying the metrics, parameters, and artifacts of each run3.

Option C: Creating a Vertex AI Workbench notebook for each of the different input datasets, running different local training jobs with different combinations of the max tree depth and optimizer learning rate parameters, and appending the results to a BigQuery table would not be able to track and compare the results of multiple runs on the same platform, and would require more skills and steps than using Vertex AI Experiments and Vertex AI Pipelines. Vertex AI Workbench is a service that provides an integrated development environment for data science and machine learning. Vertex AI Workbench allows users to create and run Jupyter notebooks on Google Cloud, and access various tools and libraries for data analysis and machine learning. However, creating a Vertex AI Workbench notebook for each of the different input datasets, running different local training jobs with different combinations of the max tree depth and optimizer learning rate parameters, and appending the results to a BigQuery table would require creating multiple notebooks, writing code, setting up local environments, connecting to BigQuery, loading and preprocessing the data, training and evaluating the model, and writing the results to a BigQuery table.Moreover, this option would not be able to track and compare the results of multiple runs on the same platform, as BigQuery is a separate service from Vertex AI Workbench, and does not have a dashboard for visualizing and analyzing the metrics, parameters, and artifacts of each run4.

Preparing for Google Cloud Certification: Machine Learning Engineer, Course 3: Production ML Systems, Week 3: MLOps

Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer Exam Guide, Section 1: Architecting low-code ML solutions, 1.1 Developing ML models by using BigQuery ML

Official Google Cloud Certified Professional Machine Learning Engineer Study Guide, Chapter 3: Data Engineering for ML, Section 3.2: BigQuery for ML

Vertex AI Experiments

Vertex AI Pipelines

BigQuery ML

Vertex AI Workbench

The best option for resolving the training-serving skew alert is to update the model monitoring job to use the more recent training data that was used to retrain the model. This option can help align the baseline distribution of the model monitoring job with the current distribution of the production data, and eliminate the false positive alerts. Model Monitoring is a service that can track and compare the results of multiple machine learning runs. Model Monitoring can monitor the model's prediction input data for feature skew and drift. Training-serving skew occurs when the feature data distribution in production deviates from the feature data distribution used to train the model. If the original training data is available, you can enable skew detection to monitor your models for training-serving skew. Model Monitoring uses TensorFlow Data Validation (TFDV) to calculate the distributions and distance scores for each feature, and compares them with a baseline distribution. The baseline distribution is the statistical distribution of the feature's values in the training data. If the distance score for a feature exceeds an alerting threshold that you set, Model Monitoring sends you an email alert. However, if you retrain the model with more recent training data, and deploy it back to the Vertex AI endpoint, the baseline distribution of the model monitoring job may become outdated and inconsistent with the current distribution of the production data. This can cause the model monitoring job to generate false positive alerts, even if the model performance is not deteriorated. To avoid this problem, you need to update the model monitoring job to use the more recent training data that was used to retrain the model. This can help the model monitoring job to recalculate the baseline distribution and the distance scores, and compare them with the current distribution of the production data.This can also help the model monitoring job to detect any true positive alerts, such as a sudden change in the production data that causes the model performance to degrade1.

The other options are not as good as option B, for the following reasons:

Option A: Updating the model monitoring job to use a lower sampling rate would not resolve the training-serving skew alert, and could reduce the accuracy and reliability of the model monitoring job. The sampling rate is a parameter that determines the percentage of prediction requests that are logged and analyzed by the model monitoring job. Using a lower sampling rate can reduce the storage and computation costs of the model monitoring job, but also the quality and validity of the data. Using a lower sampling rate can introduce sampling bias and noise into the data, and make the model monitoring job miss some important features or patterns of the data.Moreover, using a lower sampling rate would not address the root cause of the training-serving skew alert, which is the mismatch between the baseline distribution and the current distribution of the production data2.

Option C: Temporarily disabling the alert, and enabling the alert again after a sufficient amount of new production traffic has passed through the Vertex AI endpoint, would not resolve the training-serving skew alert, and could expose the model to potential risks and errors. Disabling the alert would stop the model monitoring job from sending email notifications when the distance score for a feature exceeds the alerting threshold, but it would not stop the model monitoring job from calculating and comparing the distributions and distance scores. Therefore, disabling the alert would not address the root cause of the training-serving skew alert, which is the mismatch between the baseline distribution and the current distribution of the production data. Moreover, disabling the alert would prevent the model monitoring job from detecting any true positive alerts, such as a sudden change in the production data that causes the model performance to degrade.This can expose the model to potential risks and errors, and affect the user satisfaction and trust1.

Option D: Temporarily disabling the alert until the model can be retrained again on newer training data, and retraining the model again after a sufficient amount of new production traffic has passed through the Vertex AI endpoint, would not resolve the training-serving skew alert, and could cause unnecessary costs and efforts. Disabling the alert would stop the model monitoring job from sending email notifications when the distance score for a feature exceeds the alerting threshold, but it would not stop the model monitoring job from calculating and comparing the distributions and distance scores. Therefore, disabling the alert would not address the root cause of the training-serving skew alert, which is the mismatch between the baseline distribution and the current distribution of the production data. Moreover, disabling the alert would prevent the model monitoring job from detecting any true positive alerts, such as a sudden change in the production data that causes the model performance to degrade. This can expose the model to potential risks and errors, and affect the user satisfaction and trust. Retraining the model again on newer training data would create a new model version, but it would not update the model monitoring job to use the newer training data as the baseline distribution.Therefore, retraining the model again on newer training data would not resolve the training-serving skew alert, and could cause unnecessary costs and efforts1.

Preparing for Google Cloud Certification: Machine Learning Engineer, Course 3: Production ML Systems, Week 4: Evaluation

Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer Exam Guide, Section 3: Scaling ML models in production, 3.3 Monitoring ML models in production

Official Google Cloud Certified Professional Machine Learning Engineer Study Guide, Chapter 6: Production ML Systems, Section 6.3: Monitoring ML Models

Using Model Monitoring

Understanding the score threshold slider

Sampling rate

The best option for using Vertex AI Model Monitoring for drift detection and minimizing the cost is to use the features and the feature attributions for monitoring, and set a prediction-sampling-rate value that is closer to 0 than 1. This option allows you to leverage the power and flexibility of Google Cloud to detect feature drift in the input predict requests for custom models, and reduce the storage and computation costs of the model monitoring job. Vertex AI Model Monitoring is a service that can track and compare the results of multiple machine learning runs. Vertex AI Model Monitoring can monitor the model's prediction input data for feature skew and drift. Feature drift occurs when the feature data distribution in production changes over time. If the original training data is not available, you can enable drift detection to monitor your models for feature drift. Vertex AI Model Monitoring uses TensorFlow Data Validation (TFDV) to calculate the distributions and distance scores for each feature, and compares them with a baseline distribution. The baseline distribution is the statistical distribution of the feature's values in the training data. If the training data is not available, the baseline distribution is calculated from the first 1000 prediction requests that the model receives. If the distance score for a feature exceeds an alerting threshold that you set, Vertex AI Model Monitoring sends you an email alert. However, if you use a custom model, you can also enable feature attribution monitoring, which can provide more insights into the feature drift. Feature attribution monitoring analyzes the feature attributions, which are the contributions of each feature to the prediction output. Feature attribution monitoring can help you identify the features that have the most impact on the model performance, and the features that have the most significant drift over time.Feature attribution monitoring can also help you understand the relationship between the features and the prediction output, and the correlation between the features1. The prediction-sampling-rate is a parameter that determines the percentage of prediction requests that are logged and analyzed by the model monitoring job. Using a lower prediction-sampling-rate can reduce the storage and computation costs of the model monitoring job, but also the quality and validity of the data. Using a lower prediction-sampling-rate can introduce sampling bias and noise into the data, and make the model monitoring job miss some important features or patterns of the data. However, using a higher prediction-sampling-rate can increase the storage and computation costs of the model monitoring job, and also the amount of data that needs to be processed and analyzed.Therefore, there is a trade-off between the prediction-sampling-rate and the cost and accuracy of the model monitoring job, and the optimal prediction-sampling-rate depends on the business objective and the data characteristics2. By using the features and the feature attributions for monitoring, and setting a prediction-sampling-rate value that is closer to 0 than 1, you can use Vertex AI Model Monitoring for drift detection and minimize the cost.

The other options are not as good as option D, for the following reasons:

Option A: Using the features for monitoring and setting a monitoring-frequency value that is higher than the default would not enable feature attribution monitoring, and could increase the cost of the model monitoring job. The monitoring-frequency is a parameter that determines how often the model monitoring job analyzes the logged prediction requests and calculates the distributions and distance scores for each feature. Using a higher monitoring-frequency can increase the frequency and timeliness of the model monitoring job, but also the computation costs of the model monitoring job.Moreover, using the features for monitoring would not enable feature attribution monitoring, which can provide more insights into the feature drift and the model performance1.

Option B: Using the features for monitoring and setting a prediction-sampling-rate value that is closer to 1 than 0 would not enable feature attribution monitoring, and could increase the cost of the model monitoring job. The prediction-sampling-rate is a parameter that determines the percentage of prediction requests that are logged and analyzed by the model monitoring job. Using a higher prediction-sampling-rate can increase the quality and validity of the data, but also the storage and computation costs of the model monitoring job.Moreover, using the features for monitoring would not enable feature attribution monitoring, which can provide more insights into the feature drift and the model performance12.

Option C: Using the features and the feature attributions for monitoring and setting a monitoring-frequency value that is lower than the default would enable feature attribution monitoring, but could reduce the frequency and timeliness of the model monitoring job. The monitoring-frequency is a parameter that determines how often the model monitoring job analyzes the logged prediction requests and calculates the distributions and distance scores for each feature. Using a lower monitoring-frequency can reduce the computation costs of the model monitoring job, but also the frequency and timeliness of the model monitoring job.This can make the model monitoring job less responsive and effective in detecting and alerting the feature drift1.

Preparing for Google Cloud Certification: Machine Learning Engineer, Course 3: Production ML Systems, Week 4: Evaluation

Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer Exam Guide, Section 3: Scaling ML models in production, 3.3 Monitoring ML models in production

Official Google Cloud Certified Professional Machine Learning Engineer Study Guide, Chapter 6: Production ML Systems, Section 6.3: Monitoring ML Models

Using Model Monitoring

Understanding the score threshold slider

The best option for deploying a scikit-learn model on Vertex AI with minimal additional code is to wrap the model in a custom prediction routine (CPR) and build a container image from the CPR local model. Upload your scikit-learn model container to Vertex AI Model Registry. Deploy your model to Vertex AI Endpoints, and create a Vertex AI batch prediction job. This option allows you to leverage the power and simplicity of Google Cloud to deploy and serve a scikit-learn model that supports both online and batch prediction. Vertex AI is a unified platform for building and deploying machine learning solutions on Google Cloud. Vertex AI can deploy a trained scikit-learn model to an online prediction endpoint, which can provide low-latency predictions for individual instances. Vertex AI can also create a batch prediction job, which can provide high-throughput predictions for a large batch of instances. A custom prediction routine (CPR) is a Python script that defines the logic for preprocessing the input data, running the prediction, and postprocessing the output data. A CPR can help you customize the prediction behavior of your model, and handle complex or non-standard data formats. A CPR can also help you minimize the additional code, as you only need to write a few functions to implement the prediction logic. A container image is a package that contains the model, the CPR, and the dependencies. A container image can help you standardize and simplify the deployment process, as you only need to upload the container image to Vertex AI Model Registry, and deploy it to Vertex AI Endpoints.By wrapping the model in a CPR and building a container image from the CPR local model, uploading the scikit-learn model container to Vertex AI Model Registry, deploying the model to Vertex AI Endpoints, and creating a Vertex AI batch prediction job, you can deploy a scikit-learn model on Vertex AI with minimal additional code1.

The other options are not as good as option B, for the following reasons:

Option A: Uploading your model to the Vertex AI Model Registry by using a prebuilt scikit-learn prediction container, deploying your model to Vertex AI Endpoints, and creating a Vertex AI batch prediction job that uses the instanceConfig.instanceType setting to transform your input data would not allow you to preprocess the input data for model inference, and could cause errors or poor performance. A prebuilt scikit-learn prediction container is a container image that is provided by Google Cloud, and contains the scikit-learn framework and the dependencies. A prebuilt scikit-learn prediction container can help you deploy a scikit-learn model without writing any code, but it also limits your customization options. A prebuilt scikit-learn prediction container can only handle standard data formats, such as JSON or CSV, and cannot perform any preprocessing or postprocessing on the input or output data. If your input data requires any transformation or normalization before running the prediction, you cannot use a prebuilt scikit-learn prediction container. The instanceConfig.instanceType setting is a parameter that determines the machine type and the accelerator type for the batch prediction job.The instanceConfig.instanceType setting can help you optimize the performance and the cost of the batch prediction job, but it cannot help you transform your input data2.

Option C: Creating a custom container for your scikit-learn model, defining a custom serving function for your model, uploading your model and custom container to Vertex AI Model Registry, and deploying your model to Vertex AI Endpoints, and creating a Vertex AI batch prediction job would require more skills and steps than using a CPR and a container image. A custom container is a container image that contains the model, the dependencies, and a web server. A custom container can help you customize the prediction behavior of your model, and handle complex or non-standard data formats. A custom serving function is a Python function that defines the logic for running the prediction on the model. A custom serving function can help you implement the prediction logic of your model, and handle complex or non-standard data formats. However, creating a custom container and defining a custom serving function would require more skills and steps than using a CPR and a container image. You would need to write code, build and test the container image, configure the web server, and implement the prediction logic.Moreover, creating a custom container and defining a custom serving function would not allow you to preprocess the input data for model inference, as the custom serving function only runs the prediction on the model3.

Option D: Creating a custom container for your scikit-learn model, uploading your model and custom container to Vertex AI Model Registry, deploying your model to Vertex AI Endpoints, and creating a Vertex AI batch prediction job that uses the instanceConfig.instanceType setting to transform your input data would not allow you to preprocess the input data for model inference, and could cause errors or poor performance. A custom container is a container image that contains the model, the dependencies, and a web server. A custom container can help you customize the prediction behavior of your model, and handle complex or non-standard data formats. However, creating a custom container would require more skills and steps than using a CPR and a container image. You would need to write code, build and test the container image, and configure the web server. The instanceConfig.instanceType setting is a parameter that determines the machine type and the accelerator type for the batch prediction job.The instanceConfig.instanceType setting can help you optimize the performance and the cost of the batch prediction job, but it cannot help you transform your input data23.

Preparing for Google Cloud Certification: Machine Learning Engineer, Course 3: Production ML Systems, Week 2: Serving ML Predictions

Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer Exam Guide, Section 3: Scaling ML models in production, 3.1 Deploying ML models to production

Official Google Cloud Certified Professional Machine Learning Engineer Study Guide, Chapter 6: Production ML Systems, Section 6.2: Serving ML Predictions

Custom prediction routines

Using pre-built containers for prediction

Using custom containers for prediction

The best option for configuring the workflow is to add the transformations as a preprocessing layer in the TensorFlow models. This option allows you to leverage the power and simplicity of TensorFlow to preprocess and transform the data with simple Python code. TensorFlow is a framework for building and training machine learning models. TensorFlow provides various tools and libraries for data analysis and machine learning. A preprocessing layer is a type of layer in TensorFlow that can perform data preprocessing and feature engineering operations on the input data. A preprocessing layer can help you customize the data transformation and preprocessing logic, and handle complex or non-standard data formats. A preprocessing layer can also help you minimize the preprocessing time, cost, and development effort, as you only need to write a few lines of code to implement the preprocessing layer, and you do not need to create any intermediate data sources or pipelines.By adding the transformations as a preprocessing layer in the TensorFlow models, you can use Vertex AI's custom training service to train multiple TensorFlow models that read the data from BigQuery and predict future sales1.

The other options are not as good as option C, for the following reasons:

Option A: Writing the transformations into Spark that uses the spark-bigquery-connector and using Dataproc to preprocess the data would require more skills and steps than using a preprocessing layer in TensorFlow. Spark is a framework for distributed data processing and machine learning. Spark can read and write data from BigQuery by using the spark-bigquery-connector, which is a library that allows Spark to communicate with BigQuery. Dataproc is a service that can create and manage Spark clusters on Google Cloud. Dataproc can help you run Spark jobs on Google Cloud, and scale the clusters according to the workload. However, writing the transformations into Spark that uses the spark-bigquery-connector and using Dataproc to preprocess the data would require more skills and steps than using a preprocessing layer in TensorFlow. You would need to write code, create and configure the Spark cluster, install and import the spark-bigquery-connector, load and preprocess the data, and write the data back to BigQuery.Moreover, this option would create an intermediate data source in BigQuery, which can increase the storage and computation costs2.

Option B: Writing SQL queries to transform the data in-place in BigQuery would not allow you to use Vertex AI's custom training service to train multiple TensorFlow models that read the data from BigQuery and predict future sales. BigQuery is a service that can perform data analysis and machine learning by using SQL queries. BigQuery can perform data transformation and preprocessing by using SQL functions and clauses, such as MIN, MAX, CASE, and TRANSFORM. BigQuery can also perform machine learning by using BigQuery ML, which is a feature that can create and train machine learning models by using SQL queries. However, writing SQL queries to transform the data in-place in BigQuery would not allow you to use Vertex AI's custom training service to train multiple TensorFlow models that read the data from BigQuery and predict future sales. Vertex AI's custom training service is a service that can run your custom machine learning code on Vertex AI. Vertex AI's custom training service can support various machine learning frameworks, such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, and scikit-learn. Vertex AI's custom training service cannot support SQL queries, as SQL is not a machine learning framework.Therefore, if you want to use Vertex AI's custom training service, you cannot use SQL queries to transform the data in-place in BigQuery3.

Option D: Creating a Dataflow pipeline that uses the BigQueryIO connector to ingest the data, process it, and write it back to BigQuery would require more skills and steps than using a preprocessing layer in TensorFlow. Dataflow is a service that can create and run data processing and machine learning pipelines on Google Cloud. Dataflow can read and write data from BigQuery by using the BigQueryIO connector, which is a library that allows Dataflow to communicate with BigQuery. Dataflow can perform data transformation and preprocessing by using Apache Beam, which is a framework for distributed data processing and machine learning. However, creating a Dataflow pipeline that uses the BigQueryIO connector to ingest the data, process it, and write it back to BigQuery would require more skills and steps than using a preprocessing layer in TensorFlow. You would need to write code, create and configure the Dataflow pipeline, install and import the BigQueryIO connector, load and preprocess the data, and write the data back to BigQuery.Moreover, this option would create an intermediate data source in BigQuery, which can increase the storage and computation costs4.

Preparing for Google Cloud Certification: Machine Learning Engineer, Course 3: Production ML Systems, Week 2: Serving ML Predictions

Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer Exam Guide, Section 2: Developing ML models, 2.1 Developing ML models by using TensorFlow

Official Google Cloud Certified Professional Machine Learning Engineer Study Guide, Chapter 4: Developing ML Models, Section 4.1: Developing ML Models by Using TensorFlow

TensorFlow Preprocessing Layers

Spark and BigQuery

Dataproc

BigQuery ML

Dataflow and BigQuery

Apache Beam

The best option for reducing pipeline execution time and cost, while also minimizing pipeline changes, is to enable caching for the pipeline job, and disable caching for the model training step. This option allows you to leverage the power and simplicity of Vertex AI Pipelines to reuse the output of the data preprocessing step, and avoid unnecessary recomputation. Vertex AI Pipelines is a service that can orchestrate machine learning workflows using Vertex AI. Vertex AI Pipelines can run preprocessing and training steps on custom Docker images, and evaluate, deploy, and monitor the machine learning model. Caching is a feature of Vertex AI Pipelines that can store and reuse the output of a pipeline step, and skip the execution of the step if the input parameters and the code have not changed. Caching can help you reduce the pipeline execution time and cost, as you do not need to re-run the same step with the same input and code. Caching can also help you minimize the pipeline changes, as you do not need to add or remove any pipeline steps or parameters. By enabling caching for the pipeline job, and disabling caching for the model training step, you can create a Vertex AI pipeline that includes two steps. The first step preprocesses 10 TB data, completes in about 1 hour, and saves the result in a Cloud Storage bucket. The second step uses the processed data to train a model. You can update the model's code to allow you to test different algorithms, and run the pipeline job with caching enabled. The pipeline job will reuse the output of the data preprocessing step from the cache, and skip the execution of the step. The pipeline job will run the model training step with the updated code, and disable the caching for the step.This way, you can reduce the pipeline execution time and cost, while also minimizing pipeline changes1.

The other options are not as good as option D, for the following reasons:

Option A: Adding a pipeline parameter and an additional pipeline step, depending on the parameter value, the pipeline step conducts or skips data preprocessing and starts model training, would require more skills and steps than enabling caching for the pipeline job, and disabling caching for the model training step. A pipeline parameter is a variable that can be used to control the input or output of a pipeline step. A pipeline parameter can help you customize the pipeline logic and behavior, and experiment with different values. An additional pipeline step is a new instance of a pipeline component that can perform a part of the pipeline workflow, such as data preprocessing or model training. An additional pipeline step can help you extend the pipeline functionality and complexity, and handle different scenarios. However, adding a pipeline parameter and an additional pipeline step, depending on the parameter value, the pipeline step conducts or skips data preprocessing and starts model training, would require more skills and steps than enabling caching for the pipeline job, and disabling caching for the model training step. You would need to write code, define the pipeline parameter, create the additional pipeline step, implement the conditional logic, and compile and run the pipeline.Moreover, this option would not reuse the output of the data preprocessing step from the cache, but rather from the Cloud Storage bucket, which can increase the data transfer and access costs1.

Option B: Creating another pipeline without the preprocessing step, and hardcoding the preprocessed Cloud Storage file location for model training, would require more skills and steps than enabling caching for the pipeline job, and disabling caching for the model training step. A pipeline without the preprocessing step is a pipeline that only includes the model training step, and uses the preprocessed data from the Cloud Storage bucket as the input. A pipeline without the preprocessing step can help you avoid running the data preprocessing step every time, and reduce the pipeline execution time and cost. However, creating another pipeline without the preprocessing step, and hardcoding the preprocessed Cloud Storage file location for model training, would require more skills and steps than enabling caching for the pipeline job, and disabling caching for the model training step. You would need to write code, create a new pipeline, remove the preprocessing step, hardcode the Cloud Storage file location, and compile and run the pipeline. Moreover, this option would not reuse the output of the data preprocessing step from the cache, but rather from the Cloud Storage bucket, which can increase the data transfer and access costs.Furthermore, this option would create another pipeline, which can increase the maintenance and management costs1.

Option C: Configuring a machine with more CPU and RAM from the compute-optimized machine family for the data preprocessing step, would not reduce the pipeline execution time and cost, while also minimizing pipeline changes, but rather increase the pipeline execution cost and complexity. A machine with more CPU and RAM from the compute-optimized machine family is a virtual machine that has a high ratio of CPU cores to memory, and can provide high performance and scalability for compute-intensive workloads. A machine with more CPU and RAM from the compute-optimized machine family can help you optimize the data preprocessing step, and reduce the pipeline execution time. However, configuring a machine with more CPU and RAM from the compute-optimized machine family for the data preprocessing step, would not reduce the pipeline execution time and cost, while also minimizing pipeline changes, but rather increase the pipeline execution cost and complexity. You would need to write code, configure the machine type parameters for the data preprocessing step, and compile and run the pipeline. Moreover, this option would increase the pipeline execution cost, as machines with more CPU and RAM from the compute-optimized machine family are more expensive than machines with less CPU and RAM from other machine families.Furthermore, this option would not reuse the output of the data preprocessing step from the cache, but rather re-run the data preprocessing step every time, which can increase the pipeline execution time and cost1.

Preparing for Google Cloud Certification: Machine Learning Engineer, Course 3: Production ML Systems, Week 3: MLOps

Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer Exam Guide, Section 3: Scaling ML models in production, 3.2 Automating ML workflows

Official Google Cloud Certified Professional Machine Learning Engineer Study Guide, Chapter 6: Production ML Systems, Section 6.4: Automating ML Workflows

Vertex AI Pipelines

Caching

Pipeline parameters

Machine types

The best option for adding explanations to your model code with minimal effort and providing explanations that are as accurate as possible is to upload the custom model to Vertex AI Model Registry and configure feature-based attribution by using sampled Shapley with input baselines. This option allows you to leverage the power and simplicity of Vertex Explainable AI to generate feature attributions for each prediction, and understand how each feature contributes to the model output. Vertex Explainable AI is a service that can help you understand and interpret predictions made by your machine learning models, natively integrated with a number of Google's products and services. Vertex Explainable AI can provide feature-based and example-based explanations to provide better understanding of model decision making. Feature-based explanations are explanations that show how much each feature in the input influenced the prediction. Feature-based explanations can help you debug and improve model performance, build confidence in the predictions, and understand when and why things go wrong. Vertex Explainable AI supports various feature attribution methods, such as sampled Shapley, integrated gradients, and XRAI. Sampled Shapley is a feature attribution method that is based on the Shapley value, which is a concept from game theory that measures how much each player in a cooperative game contributes to the total payoff. Sampled Shapley approximates the Shapley value for each feature by sampling different subsets of features, and computing the marginal contribution of each feature to the prediction. Sampled Shapley can provide accurate and consistent feature attributions, but it can also be computationally expensive. To reduce the computation cost, you can use input baselines, which are reference inputs that are used to compare with the actual inputs. Input baselines can help you define the starting point or the default state of the features, and calculate the feature attributions relative to the input baselines.By uploading the custom model to Vertex AI Model Registry and configuring feature-based attribution by using sampled Shapley with input baselines, you can add explanations to your model code with minimal effort and provide explanations that are as accurate as possible1.

The other options are not as good as option C, for the following reasons:

Option A: Creating an AutoML tabular model by using the BigQuery data with integrated Vertex Explainable AI would require more skills and steps than uploading the custom model to Vertex AI Model Registry and configuring feature-based attribution by using sampled Shapley with input baselines. AutoML tabular is a service that can automatically build and train machine learning models for structured or tabular data. AutoML tabular can use BigQuery as the data source, and provide feature-based explanations by using integrated gradients as the feature attribution method. However, creating an AutoML tabular model by using the BigQuery data with integrated Vertex Explainable AI would require more skills and steps than uploading the custom model to Vertex AI Model Registry and configuring feature-based attribution by using sampled Shapley with input baselines. You would need to create a new AutoML tabular model, import the BigQuery data, configure the model settings, train and evaluate the model, and deploy the model.Moreover, this option would not use your existing custom model, which is already performing well, but create a new model, which may not have the same performance or behavior as your custom model2.

Option B: Creating a BigQuery ML deep neural network model, and using the ML.EXPLAIN_PREDICT method with the num_integral_steps parameter would not allow you to deploy the model to production, and could provide less accurate explanations than using sampled Shapley with input baselines. BigQuery ML is a service that can create and train machine learning models by using SQL queries on BigQuery. BigQuery ML can create a deep neural network model, which is a type of machine learning model that consists of multiple layers of neurons, and can learn complex patterns and relationships from the data. BigQuery ML can also provide feature-based explanations by using the ML.EXPLAIN_PREDICT method, which is a SQL function that returns the feature attributions for each prediction. The ML.EXPLAIN_PREDICT method uses integrated gradients as the feature attribution method, which is a method that calculates the average gradient of the prediction output with respect to the feature values along the path from the input baseline to the input. The num_integral_steps parameter is a parameter that determines the number of steps along the path from the input baseline to the input. However, creating a BigQuery ML deep neural network model, and using the ML.EXPLAIN_PREDICT method with the num_integral_steps parameter would not allow you to deploy the model to production, and could provide less accurate explanations than using sampled Shapley with input baselines. BigQuery ML does not support deploying the model to Vertex AI Endpoints, which is a service that can provide low-latency predictions for individual instances. BigQuery ML only supports batch prediction, which is a service that can provide high-throughput predictions for a large batch of instances.Moreover, integrated gradients can provide less accurate and consistent explanations than sampled Shapley, as integrated gradients can be sensitive to the choice of the input baseline and the num_integral_steps parameter3.

Option D: Updating the custom serving container to include sampled Shapley-based explanations in the prediction outputs would require more skills and steps than uploading the custom model to Vertex AI Model Registry and configuring feature-based attribution by using sampled Shapley with input baselines. A custom serving container is a container image that contains the model, the dependencies, and a web server. A custom serving container can help you customize the prediction behavior of your model, and handle complex or non-standard data formats. However, updating the custom serving container to include sampled Shapley-based explanations in the prediction outputs would require more skills and steps than uploading the custom model to Vertex AI Model Registry and configuring feature-based attribution by using sampled Shapley with input baselines. You would need to write code, implement the sampled Shapley algorithm, build and test the container image, and upload and deploy the container image.Moreover, this option would not leverage the power and simplicity of Vertex Explainable AI, which can provide feature-based explanations natively integrated with Vertex AI services4.

Preparing for Google Cloud Certification: Machine Learning Engineer, Course 3: Production ML Systems, Week 4: Evaluation

Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer Exam Guide, Section 3: Scaling ML models in production, 3.3 Monitoring ML models in production

Official Google Cloud Certified Professional Machine Learning Engineer Study Guide, Chapter 6: Production ML Systems, Section 6.3: Monitoring ML Models

Vertex Explainable AI

AutoML Tables

BigQuery ML

Using custom containers for prediction

The best option for implementing the processing steps so that they run at serving time, minimizing code changes and infrastructure maintenance, and deploying the model into production as quickly as possible, is to use the Predictor interface to implement a custom prediction routine. Build the custom container, upload the container to Vertex AI Model Registry, and deploy it to a Vertex AI endpoint. This option allows you to leverage the power and simplicity of Vertex AI to serve your XGBoost model with minimal effort and customization. Vertex AI is a unified platform for building and deploying machine learning solutions on Google Cloud. Vertex AI can deploy a trained XGBoost model to an online prediction endpoint, which can provide low-latency predictions for individual instances. A custom prediction routine (CPR) is a Python script that defines the logic for preprocessing the input data, running the prediction, and postprocessing the output data. A CPR can help you customize the prediction behavior of your model, and handle complex or non-standard data formats. A CPR can also help you minimize the code changes, as you only need to write a few functions to implement the prediction logic. A Predictor interface is a class that inherits from the base classaiplatform.Predictor, and implements the abstract methodspredict()andpreprocess(). A Predictor interface can help you create a CPR by defining the preprocessing and prediction logic for your model. A container image is a package that contains the model, the CPR, and the dependencies. A container image can help you standardize and simplify the deployment process, as you only need to upload the container image to Vertex AI Model Registry, and deploy it to Vertex AI Endpoints.By using the Predictor interface to implement a CPR, building the custom container, uploading the container to Vertex AI Model Registry, and deploying it to a Vertex AI endpoint, you can implement the processing steps so that they run at serving time, minimize code changes and infrastructure maintenance, and deploy the model into production as quickly as possible1.

The other options are not as good as option C, for the following reasons:

Option A: Using FastAPI to implement an HTTP server, creating a Docker image that runs your HTTP server, and deploying it on your organization's GKE cluster would require more skills and steps than using the Predictor interface to implement a CPR, building the custom container, uploading the container to Vertex AI Model Registry, and deploying it to a Vertex AI endpoint. FastAPI is a framework for building web applications and APIs in Python. FastAPI can help you implement an HTTP server that can handle prediction requests and responses, and perform data preprocessing and postprocessing. A Docker image is a package that contains the model, the HTTP server, and the dependencies. A Docker image can help you standardize and simplify the deployment process, as you only need to build and run the Docker image. GKE is a service that can create and manage Kubernetes clusters on Google Cloud. GKE can help you deploy and scale your Docker image on Google Cloud, and provide high availability and performance. However, using FastAPI to implement an HTTP server, creating a Docker image that runs your HTTP server, and deploying it on your organization's GKE cluster would require more skills and steps than using the Predictor interface to implement a CPR, building the custom container, uploading the container to Vertex AI Model Registry, and deploying it to a Vertex AI endpoint. You would need to write code, create and configure the HTTP server, build and test the Docker image, create and manage the GKE cluster, and deploy and monitor the Docker image.Moreover, this option would not leverage the power and simplicity of Vertex AI, which can provide online prediction natively integrated with Google Cloud services2.

Option B: Using FastAPI to implement an HTTP server, creating a Docker image that runs your HTTP server, uploading the image to Vertex AI Model Registry, and deploying it to a Vertex AI endpoint would require more skills and steps than using the Predictor interface to implement a CPR, building the custom container, uploading the container to Vertex AI Model Registry, and deploying it to a Vertex AI endpoint. FastAPI is a framework for building web applications and APIs in Python. FastAPI can help you implement an HTTP server that can handle prediction requests and responses, and perform data preprocessing and postprocessing. A Docker image is a package that contains the model, the HTTP server, and the dependencies. A Docker image can help you standardize and simplify the deployment process, as you only need to build and run the Docker image. Vertex AI Model Registry is a service that can store and manage your machine learning models on Google Cloud. Vertex AI Model Registry can help you upload and organize your Docker image, and track the model versions and metadata. Vertex AI Endpoints is a service that can provide online prediction for your machine learning models on Google Cloud. Vertex AI Endpoints can help you deploy your Docker image to an online prediction endpoint, which can provide low-latency predictions for individual instances. However, using FastAPI to implement an HTTP server, creating a Docker image that runs your HTTP server, uploading the image to Vertex AI Model Registry, and deploying it to a Vertex AI endpoint would require more skills and steps than using the Predictor interface to implement a CPR, building the custom container, uploading the container to Vertex AI Model Registry, and deploying it to a Vertex AI endpoint. You would need to write code, create and configure the HTTP server, build and test the Docker image, upload the Docker image to Vertex AI Model Registry, and deploy the Docker image to Vertex AI Endpoints.Moreover, this option would not leverage the power and simplicity of Vertex AI, which can provide online prediction natively integrated with Google Cloud services2.

Option D: Using the XGBoost prebuilt serving container when importing the trained model into Vertex AI, deploying the model to a Vertex AI endpoint, working with the backend engineers to implement the pre- and postprocessing steps in the Golang backend service would not allow you to implement the processing steps so that they run at serving time, and could increase the code changes and infrastructure maintenance. A XGBoost prebuilt serving container is a container image that is provided by Google Cloud, and contains the XGBoost framework and the dependencies. A XGBoost prebuilt serving container can help you deploy a XGBoost model without writing any code, but it also limits your customization options. A XGBoost prebuilt serving container can only handle standard data formats, such as JSON or CSV, and cannot perform any preprocessing or postprocessing on the input or output data. If your input data requires any transformation or normalization before running the prediction, you cannot use a XGBoost prebuilt serving container. A Golang backend service is a service that is implemented in Golang, a programming language that can be used for web development and system programming. A Golang backend service can help you handle the prediction requests and responses from the frontend, and communicate with the Vertex AI endpoint. However, using the XGBoost prebuilt serving container when importing the trained model into Vertex AI, deploying the model to a Vertex AI endpoint, working with the backend engineers to implement the pre- and postprocessing steps in the Golang backend service would not allow you to implement the processing steps so that they run at serving time, and could increase the code changes and infrastructure maintenance. You would need to write code, import the trained model into Vertex AI, deploy the model to a Vertex AI endpoint, implement the pre- and postprocessing steps in the Golang backend service, and test and monitor the Golang backend service.Moreover, this option would not leverage the power and simplicity of Vertex AI, which can provide online prediction natively integrated with Google Cloud services2.

Preparing for Google Cloud Certification: Machine Learning Engineer, Course 3: Production ML Systems, Week 2: Serving ML Predictions

Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer Exam Guide, Section 3: Scaling ML models in production, 3.1 Deploying ML models to production

Official Google Cloud Certified Professional Machine Learning Engineer Study Guide, Chapter 6: Production ML Systems, Section 6.2: Serving ML Predictions

Custom prediction routines

Using pre-built containers for prediction

Using custom containers for prediction