It does look like a really interesting avenue of research. I see a lot of statistical "evidence" presented as justifying interventions without even hesitating to consider if they've got it the wrong way around in terms of causality.
It seems it will be focused on large scale products out of necessity because of the availability of structured data and public disclosure.
It is really interesting to see ways to establish causality without a randomized controlled trial, since in a lot of circumstances an RCT is impossible or unethical, and because for many decision making purposes you need to evaluate interventions, not just relationships.
It seems it will be focused on large scale products out of necessity because of the availability of structured data and public disclosure.
There is one preliminary paper linked in the article, which I haven't read: https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3172876
It is really interesting to see ways to establish causality without a randomized controlled trial, since in a lot of circumstances an RCT is impossible or unethical, and because for many decision making purposes you need to evaluate interventions, not just relationships.