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Last updated on Mar 20, 2025
  1. All
  2. Engineering
  3. Machine Learning

You’re facing massive datasets with countless features. How do you choose the right ones?

When faced with large datasets, it's essential to identify the most relevant features to enhance your machine learning model's performance. Here's how you can streamline the selection process:

  • Use feature importance techniques: Employ methods like Random Forest or Gradient Boosting to rank features by their importance.

  • Apply dimensionality reduction: Techniques such as Principal Component Analysis \(PCA\) can reduce the number of features while retaining essential information.

  • Perform feature selection algorithms: Utilize algorithms like Recursive Feature Elimination \(RFE\) to systematically remove less significant features.

What strategies have worked best for you when selecting features in large datasets?

Machine Learning Machine Learning

Machine Learning

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Last updated on Mar 20, 2025
  1. All
  2. Engineering
  3. Machine Learning

You’re facing massive datasets with countless features. How do you choose the right ones?

When faced with large datasets, it's essential to identify the most relevant features to enhance your machine learning model's performance. Here's how you can streamline the selection process:

  • Use feature importance techniques: Employ methods like Random Forest or Gradient Boosting to rank features by their importance.

  • Apply dimensionality reduction: Techniques such as Principal Component Analysis \(PCA\) can reduce the number of features while retaining essential information.

  • Perform feature selection algorithms: Utilize algorithms like Recursive Feature Elimination \(RFE\) to systematically remove less significant features.

What strategies have worked best for you when selecting features in large datasets?

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9 answers
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    Shiladitya Sircar

    Senior Vice President | Product Engineering | SaaS, AI & DataScience, CyberSecurity, e-Commerce, Mobile

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    Feature selection is like packing for a trip—leave out the useless stuff and not pay for excess baggage. Lasso Regression: Let L1 regularization do the cleaning —shrink unimportant features then apply Correlation Matrix: If two features are too cozy, drop one.

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    Arivukkarasan Raja, PhD

    IT Director @ AstraZeneca | Expert in Enterprise Solution Architecture & Applied AI | Robotics & IoT | Digital Transformation | Strategic Vision for Business Growth Through Emerging Tech

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    Select the right features using domain knowledge, correlation analysis, and feature importance techniques like SHAP values or permutation importance. Apply dimensionality reduction (PCA, t-SNE) and automated selection methods (LASSO, Recursive Feature Elimination). Use cross-validation to test feature subsets and assess model performance. Prioritize interpretability, avoiding redundancy and noise, to enhance accuracy, efficiency, and generalization.

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    Kyuchul Lee

    Senior ML Engineer | AI Systems @ Coupang | Production-Scale Solutions

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    I usually combine model-based methods (like SHAP or GBDT importance) with domain heuristics—especially in vision or multimodal setups where signal is sparse. In large-scale cases, I use lightweight models to filter obvious noise first, then refine with deeper modeling. Domain knowledge is key—knowing what’s robust across tasks often beats pure stats.

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    Karyna Naminas

    CEO of Label Your Data. Helping AI teams deploy their ML models faster.

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    Drowning in features? Start with your labels. If the labeling isn’t consistent or aligned with your goals, no feature selection method will fix it. Clean, well-defined annotations help surface what matters. Then: • Drop features unrelated to your labeled outcome • Use model-based importance scores to rank and cut • Eliminate redundancy—highly correlated features add noise • Only use PCA if you don’t need interpretability Strong labels make the right features obvious. That’s where smart feature selection begins.

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    Anil Prasad

    VP, Builder, Engineer - Software, Platform, Application, Data, & AL/ML - Passionate in driving Software & AI transformation through GenAI integration, intelligent Automation, LinkedIn Top voice

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    Selecting the right features from massive datasets requires a blend of domain expertise and data-driven techniques. Begin by collaborating with stakeholders to identify features critical to business goals. Use feature selection methods like Recursive Feature Elimination (RFE) or LASSO regression to identify impactful variables. Apply Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to reduce dimensionality while preserving variance. Analyze feature correlations to eliminate redundancy and noise. Visualize feature importance using AI tools to uncover trends. By combining statistical rigor with domain knowledge, you can refine datasets, boost model performance, and drive actionable insights from your AI projects.

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    Ayeni oluwatosin Olawale

    Machine Learning Engineer | AI/ML for Finance, Healthcare & Science | Data Science | Predictive Analytics | Neural Networks

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    A key insight I’ve gained is that feature selection is as much about relevance as it is about reduction. Using domain knowledge helps identify which features truly impact the model’s predictions. One approach that works well is leveraging techniques like Principal Component Analysis (PCA) or SHAP values to quantify feature importance. This ensures we retain meaningful variables while eliminating noise that adds complexity. By prioritizing interpretability and performance, I streamline models for efficiency and accuracy. Selecting the right features not only improves prediction quality but also reduces computational costs, making AI solutions more scalable.

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    Pradeep Gupta

    Product Management Leader | Innovator | Transforming Ideas into Impactful Products | Driving Business Growth

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    More data isn’t always better - better data is better. 🎯 📌 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 ‘𝘄𝗵𝘆’: What problem are we solving? Align features with business goals. If they don’t drive insights or impact decisions, they’re just noise. 📌 𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸: Use feature importance techniques - SHAP values, mutual information, or correlation analysis - to separate signal from noise. Garbage in, garbage out. 🚀 📌 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗹𝘆: Occam’s Razor applies - fewer, high-quality features improve model interpretability, performance, and speed. Because in ML, clarity beats complexity every time.

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    Bhavanishankar Ravindra

    Breaking barriers since birth – AI and Innovation Enthusiast, Disability Advocate, Storyteller and National award winner from the Honorable President of India

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    Right, data flood :-) Sort of like searching for a signal in a cosmic static storm. Forget brute force. I'd begin with a 'feature autopsy' - see distributions, correlations, and interactions. Let's see what addresses the target variable. Then, a pinch of domain knowledge, since intuition is important. Think dimensionality reduction - PCA, t-SNE - to extract essence. Finally, iterative model training, using methods like recursive feature elimination. It's about letting the data itself guide us, revealing the features that truly illuminate the pattern, rather than getting lost in the noise. We’re not just picking features, we’re curating a story.

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    Meraz Mehedi Afridi

    CSE Graduate From NSU | Research @ mPower Social Enterprises Ltd. | Research enthusiast in Al, ML, Computer Vision & NLP | Data Analyst | Program Moderator at NSUSS

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    To handle massive datasets, I focus on features that provide the most value. I use domain knowledge, feature importance techniques, and dimensionality reduction methods to narrow down relevant features while testing their impact on model performance

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