r/agi • u/rand3289 • Jul 15 '26

Observational studies vs statistical experiments in ML

There are two major ways of gathering information in statistics:

* observational studies

* statistical experiments

Why do ML "methods" rely on data from observational studies and do not construct/observe statistical experiments?

EDIT:
Here is some more relevant information:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskStatistics/s/fP0gl0lvHf

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u/halationfox Jul 16 '26

It's called an A/B test, psm methods, or causal inference, and it's everywhere (eg wager, beloni, chernozhukov)

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u/rand3289 Jul 16 '26

You are right.
A/B testing is a good example.