AI Myth and Reality: Are AI and Machine Learning the Same Thing?

Author: Michael

Michael Wang
4 min readMar 15, 2019

This is the first of a multi-part article debunking some of the myths and misconceptions about artificial intelligence.

Modified; Original Source: Microsoft

Myth: AI, Machine Learning and Deep Learning are the Same Thing

When Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo program defeated South Korean Master Lee Se-dol in the board game Go, the terms AI and machine learning (and to a less degree, deep learning) were used in the media to describe how DeepMind won. People have put an equal sign between AI and machine learning. While they have all contributed to reach that milestone, they are not the same thing.

AlphaGo versus Lee Se-dol, Source: MIT

Reality: Long Story Short. No, They Aren’t.

Within AI, there is a large sub-field called machine learning (ML), which is defined as the field of study that enables machines to learn without being explicitly programmed. Machines learn via a process called “training” and do not require custom programming to solve problems. ML can be “orchestrated” to recognize patterns from data without explicit programming, and is usually…

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