What is Machine Learning?

What is Machine Learning?

Machine Learning, or ML for short, is a subfield of Artificial Intelligence that allows computer systems to learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. The idea behind machine learning is to enable computers to make decisions or predictions based on data without the need for explicit instructions on what to do. Think of it as a student learning from past exams to perform better on the next one. Just like a student uses past exams to identify patterns and make predictions, machines use data to identify patterns and make predictions.

Machine Learning is one if not the most important sub-field of artificial intelligence since it allows any intelligent system to learn, draw conclusions based on that learning, and adapt to changes. ML is closely related to data, algorithms, predictions, and, more importantly, a process.

Aurélien Géron has one of the most precise and concrete definitions:

“Machine Learning is the science (and art) of programming computers so they can learn from data.” — Hands On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn, Keras and TensorFlow - Aurélien Géron.

With a more mathematical approach, Peter Norvig defines ML as a process through which we search for a prediction function f that explains the relationship between the outputs we want to obtain and the input data we receive. This prediction function would allow the intelligent system to make predictions on data it has never seen before.

“Machine learning can also be defined as the process of solving a practical problem by 1) gathering a dataset, and 2) algorithmically building a statistical model based on that dataset. That statistical model is assumed to be used somehow to solve the practical problem.” — The hundred Page Machine Learning, - Peter Norvig.

In his “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” paper, Alan Turing explores the idea that computers could go beyond just executing what the programmer tells them. He proposes that computers could think for themselves how to solve a given task.

Machine Learning is an extensive collection of mathematical and statistical algorithms used to find patterns within data, learn from them and make predictions on new data. It is possible to carry out the entire process in various ways; we will explore them here.

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