What are some examples of overfitting in machine learning?

What are some examples of overfitting in machine learning?

Overfitting occurs when a model learns the noise in the training data instead of the actual patterns. For example, a decision tree that perfectly classifies training data but performs poorly on unseen data is overfitting.

Can you give me a specific scenario where this happens?

Sure! Imagine a model trained to recognize cats in images. If it learns to identify a specific cat's collar instead of general features like fur patterns, it will fail to recognize other cats.

How can we prevent overfitting?

You can prevent overfitting by using techniques like cross-validation, pruning decision trees, or applying regularization methods.

What is regularization?

Regularization is a technique used to reduce overfitting by adding a penalty for larger coefficients in the model, helping to keep the model simpler.