Are genetic algorithms still useful? A February 2024 preview
This February 2024 preview introduces the question and the genetic-algorithm definition; the full argument is linked after the definition.
To preface this article, I want to say that I am absolutely biased. Genetic algorithms are the only remnants I have of my past life, as a biology major from Cornell. The algorithms are not only elegant in their design, mimicking the real-life process of natural selection and evolution, but they’re also surprisingly intuitive… if you’re a biology major.
However, the Machine Learning literature has been surprisingly lacking in papers related to evolutionary algorithms and genetic optimization. In all honesty, outside of my automated trading platform NexusTrade, which uses genetic algorithms for strategy optimization, I haven’t seen a real-life application of genetic algorithms since I first learned about them 4 years ago. This begs the questions… is genetic optimization dead?
Brief Recap: What is a Genetic Algorithm?
Genetic algorithms (GAs) are a biologically-inspired AI search heuristic capable of finding good solutions in a very large search space. They work by taking notes from natural selection, in which a population of solutions mixes their genes through crossover to produce new solutions that, while bearing resemblance to the previous generation, often manifest as slightly altered variants. Like in the natural world, mutations further introduce variations within the population, ensuring a diverse set of solutions that help in exploring the search space effectively.
Unlike gradient descent, a genetic search does not need a differentiable objective. It can compare a population of encoded candidates and expose tradeoffs, but its success depends on the representation, fitness function and search budget.
Read the complete February 2024 argument about whether genetic algorithms are still useful.
Historical February 2024 promotion
The February 2024 preview advertised STARTER2024 for 50% off the then Starter Pack plan, with a February 3, 2024 deadline. That is a historical promotion, not a currently verified coupon or plan entitlement.
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