What is Machine Learning ?

The world is filled with data, a lot of data pictures, music ,words, spreadsheets, videos and it doesn’t look like it’s going to slow down any time soon. Machine learning brings the promise of deriving meaning from all of that data. Arthur C. Clarke famously once said,

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

I found machine learning not to be magic, but rather tools and technology that you can utilize to answer questions with your data.

Why is Machine Learning important ?

The value of machine learning is only just beginning to show itself. There is a lot of date in the world today generated not only by people,
but also by computers, phones and other devices. This will only continue to grow in the years to come. Traditionally, humans have analyzed data adapted systems to the changes in the data patterns.

However, as the volume of data surpasses the ability for humans to make sense of it and manually write those rules, we will turn increasingly to automated systems that can learn from the data and importantly, the changes in data to adapt to a shifting landscape.

How is Machine Learning used Today ?

We see machine learning all around us in the products we use today. However, it isn’t always apparent that machine learning is behind it all. While things like tagging objects and people inside of photos or clearly machine learning at play, it may not be immediately apparent that recommending the next video to watch, is also powered by machine learning.

Of course perhaps, the biggest example of all is Google search. Every time you use google search, you are using the system that has many machine learning systems at it’s core from understanding the text of your query to adjusting the results based on your personal interests, such as knowing which results to show you first when searching, for Java depending on whether you’re a coffee expert or a developer perhaps you’re both.

Today, machine learnings immediate applications are already quite wide ranging ,including image recognition, fraud detection and recommendation systems, as well as text and speech systems too. These powerful capabilities can be applied to a wide range of fields, from diabetic retinopathy and skin cancer detection to retail and of course, transportation in the form of self parking and self reading vehicles.

Tags: #machinelearning #artificialintelligence