False Positive (FP)

What is a False Positive (FP)?

When evaluating the prediction of a model given a sample, a False Positive (FP) is the outcome where the model incorrectly predicts the positive class.

Consider the example of a model which classifies emails as either spam (positive class) or not spam (negative class). If the actual label of the sample is not spam but the model predicts spam then this outcome will be considered a False Positive.