Computers are perfect workers than humans yet they’ve always been considered inferior to humans because their duties are fixed and program dependent. Humans can switch from one task to the other on their own accord, a characteristics computers were devoid of some decades ago but not today. Today, we talk about the self-driving Google car, are thrilled by how computers can detect fraud and are amazed about online recommendation offers such as those from Amazon and Netflix. Yes, computers have evolved also but this time nature is not the driving force but machine learning is the reason.
Machine learning allows computers to find hidden insights without being explicitly programmed where to look. Machine learning focuses on the building of computer programs that can change when exposed to new data. This it does through a method data analysis that automates analytical model building using algorithms that iteratively learn from data. The process of machine learning is similar to that of data mining as they search through data to look for patterns. However, unlike in data mining where data is extracted for human comprehension, machine learning detect patterns in the data and adjust program actions accordingly. Machine learning algorithms are categorized as being supervised or unsupervised. The supervised algorithm applies what has been learned in the past to new data while unsupervised algorithms can draw inferences from data sets.
Machine learning is helping solve previously unsolved problems. Email service providers like Yahoo and Google are using machine learning to detect spam emails. IBM’s artificial intelligence attorney, Ross is based on machine learning. A lot of tasks once believed to be only accomplishable by humans are becoming duties of machines, thanks to machine learning.
Machine learning is giving computers qualities they never had and increasingly bringing them closer to becoming humans. Computers cannot just learn but can apply knowledge on their accord, a superpower once exclusive to humans. Computers are now acquiring ‘self-will’, our ‘most special’ quality because machine learning is gradually humanizing them.
