How one data scientist uses Mermaid Chart to quickly and easily build flowcharts
Read about how Ari Tal, a data scientist and founder of Leveling Up with XAI, utilizes Mermaid Chart for its easy-to-use flowchart creation capabilities to enhance their work in explainable AI (XAI).
TL; DR #
Name: Ari Tal
Role:
- (Current) Founder, Leveling Up with XAI
- (Past) Senior Associate, Machine Learning Engineer at Capital One
Favorite Thing About Mermaid Chart: The ability to quickly and easily build flowcharts.
In Their Own Words: “I came across Mermaid Chart when looking for an online tool to create flowcharts. Mermaid Chart’s syntax was easy to pick up and I quickly upgraded to the Pro plan so I could continue creating flowcharts with ease.”
Introducing Ari Tal #
Machine learning and artificial intelligence are taking over our world.
While we all know that AI is here to stay, understanding how the AI we use makes decisions is not always easy.
That’s where Ari Tal comes in.
Ari is an emerging leader in machine learning and artificial intelligence. One of their biggest goals is to teach others how to level up their AI skills with explainable AI (XAI). This mission informed their passion project Leveling Up with XAI: a website with a helpful guide on how to select XAI tools to interpret model behavior.
When looking for an online tool to build flowcharts, Ari discovered the Mermaid Chart text-to-diagram platform. Since then, they’ve become an avid user.
We asked Ari six questions about their experience with Mermaid Chart:
What is your current project - and why are diagrams helpful for this project? #
Driven by my commitment to transparent and responsible AI deployment, my personal focus is on XAI, aiming to broaden its accessibility. My approach involves clarifying the practical use cases, methodologies, and available tools within XAI, aiming to enable the effective application of XAI for enhancing transparency in AI decision-making processes.
That’s what drove me to create the Leveling Up with XAI website, which hosts a guide on how to choose the appropriate XAI technique for your needs.
I started creating the flowcharts to have a simple visual representation to help people choose the appropriate XAI technique, depending on their use case.
The first flowchart I created was huge. It contained too much information to fit on one screen easily. So I decided to break it down. After deciding to break it down, it made sense for me to write an article that incorporated these diagrams into the article as visuals to help the audience understand and retain the information.
How did you find the Mermaid Chart platform? #
I came across Mermaid Chart when looking for an online tool to create flowcharts to support the use case I just laid out.
What immediately drew me to the platform was the fact that I could build diagrams from simple code. Mermaid Chart’s syntax was easy to pick up and I was quickly hooked.
What are your primary use cases for Mermaid Chart? #
Each page of the Level Up with XAI guide shows when it would make sense to use certain XAI techniques, and each page is accompanied by a flowchart to give an overview of the content.
In other words, I need to build a large number of flowcharts. That’s where Mermaid Chart comes in handy. I can quickly and easily create flowcharts from simple code and export them for use in the guide.
What do you like about Mermaid Chart? #
The text-to-diagram functionality makes it super easy to build diagrams — without having to fiddle with the design. I can make good-looking flowcharts and sensibly organize them.
Once I make a change to the code, it’s automatically updated in the visual. I’ve really increased the speed at which I can create flowcharts, which saves me time for everything else required to keep my website up and running!
Why did you upgrade to the Pro plan? #
The Free plan was an awesome start, but you’re limited to five diagrams. Because I wanted to continuously build new flowcharts, upgrading to unlimited diagrams with the Pro plan was an easy decision.
Join Ari on the Mermaid Chart platform #
People like Ari are using the Mermaid Chart platform to quickly and easily build diagrams. Will you do the same?
Don’t worry if you’re not into coding! Mermaid Chart’s new Visual Editor allows you to create flowcharts with a click-and-drag graphical user interface (GUI). We’re making it easy for everyone to create dynamic diagrams in a flash.
With Mermaid Chart, you can try before you buy. Click here to create your free account, which lets you build five diagrams and use all of our plugins. If you’re looking for perks like unlimited diagramming, multi-user editing, and AI diagramming tools, our Pro tier begins at $80/year.
Let’s make diagramming fun again!