Graph Neural Network contextual embedding for Deep Learning on Tabular Data

All industries are trying to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) based on their existing big data which is available in so called tabular form, where each record is composed of a number of heterogeneous continuous and categorical columns also known as features. Deep Learning (DL) has consituted a major breathrough for AI in fields related to human skills like natural language processing, but its applicability to tabular data has been more challenging. More classical Machine Learning (ML) models like tree-based ensemble ones usually perform better. In this manuscript a novel DL model that uses Graph Neural Network (GNN), more specifically Interaction Network (IN), for contextual embedding is introduced. Its results outperform those of the recently published survey with DL benchmark based on five public datasets, achieving also competitive results when compared to boosted-tree solutions.