AI engineering glossary · ML fundamentals
What is non-parametric model?
Non-parametric model (also called Nonparametric model): A model whose complexity grows with the amount of training data rather than being fixed in advance. It makes fewer assumptions about the shape of the relationship, but needs more data and can be slower or more memory-hungry at prediction time.
Non-parametric model: an example
A nearest-neighbour predictor keeps all training points and uses them directly, so it gets larger as data grows.
Related terms
More ML fundamentals terms
- Occam's razor
- Online learning
- Out-of-distribution
- Outlier
- Overfitting
- Overparameterisation
- PAC learning
- Parameter
Where you learn it
Non-parametric model is part of the AI Engineering Program, which teaches it with notes, a hands-on lab and an exam. The first lesson is free.