Synthetic learning machines

BACKGROUND: Using a collection of different terminal nodesize constructed random forests, each generating a synthetic feature, a synthetic random forest is defined as a kind of hyperforest, calculated using the new input synthetic features, along with the original features. RESULTS: Using a large collection of regression and multiclass datasets we show that synthetic random forests outperforms both conventional random forests and the optimized forest from the regresssion portfolio. CONCLUSIONS: Synthetic forests removes the need for tuning random forests with no additional effort on the part of the researcher. Importantly, the synthetic forest does this with evidently no loss in prediction compared to a well-optimized single random forest.