Machine Learning is a subset of artificial intelligence in the field of computer science. It is based on the use of algorithms to give computers the ability to “learn” and make predictions on data. The term was coined by Arthur Samuel, a pioneer of artificial intelligence, in 1956.
In the last decade, Machine Learning has developed into a technique known as Deep Learning, in which the computer is given concrete examples instead of a set of rules.
One of the greatest milestones in Machine Learning was reached in 2012, when Andrew Ng and his team in Google were able to teach a computer to recognize cats among more than 10 million videos on YouTube.
The advances in this discipline, along with the increasing amount of data available, have contributed to achieving impressive results, which could potentially change the world as we know it.
Machine Learning has many possible applications in human’s life, including:
- Medical applications
Suicide prevention. For example, in a hospital, a group of people were working in a system that, after interviewing some patients, the Machine Learning technology tried to determine if those people were at risk of suicide.
With the newest technology, Machine Learning is able to diagnose diseases and pathologies with a high level of success.
In medicine, recent studies are trying to minimize and avoid the side effects before testing it on humans, so the cost of this process decreases.
- Cars
Cars will be able to predict lane changes with a 90% accuracy.
Cars will have a set of sensors and cameras that will allow the machine to know the environment where it is moving.
Like everything, Machine Learning and AI have pros and cons. As we have already talk about the pros, now, we’re going to highlight some cons.
Machine Learning can be configured as bots that can influence people with an advertisement campaign, like during the US presidential election.
Bots can spread fake information and contribute to the political climate in socials networks like twitter and Facebook, attacking opposing voters and being “bad guys”.
Maybe with Machine Learning, the robots and computers will rebel against human beings like Terminator or help us like Star Wars. Only time will tell if Machine Learning will ultimately help or hurt our society. For now, we can sit back and enjoy the ride.
