Machine Learning
How is machine learning being used in business?
Machine learning has many different applications across many different industries. Amazon and Netflix are well known for using ML programs to provide recommendations to customers. Digital assistants and chatbots are powered by ML. Security and surveillance companies are using the technology to combat cybersecurity. Many industries can make use of ML's predictions to anticipate maintenance needs for heavy machinery or consumer products. ML powers visual recognition for employee-less stores like AmazonGo, and speech recognition for voice search. It's also being deployed in pharma and healthcare for both research and consumer purposes.
Deep Learning
A sophisticated form of machine learning in which complex layers of artificial neural networks train a computer how to solve problems in a human way
Automation
Automation is the use of computers to perform tasks and processes without human intervention - much more efficiently (quickly) than a human could. It might involve bots and straightforward rules-based tasks to perform repetitive tasks, like sending an email to a customer if they've been browsing your website and performed a specific action. Or it could employ artificial intelligence (AI) to perform more sophisticated tasks.
AI
AI is the broad science of getting computers to simulate human intelligence. Machine learning and deep learning are subfields or AI - two of numerous techniques for achieving AI. Just as for humans, the ability for a computer to learn is critical to its intelligence.
Machine Learning
In machine learning (ML), computers use algorithms to analyze huge data sets, then use the patterns they identify to learn how to make accurate predictions or produce certain outcomes. ML systems constantly absorb new data and test their learning to continuously improve the accuracy of their predictions and outcomes. For example, Waymo self-driving cars process a gigabyte of data per second to continuously learn how to interpret the roads around them in order to drive safely.
Why is machine learning so useful for businesses?
"Just about any organization that wants to capitalize on its data to gain insights, improve relationships with customers, increase sales, or be competitive at a specific task will rely on machine learning."⁶ ML allows companies to sort quickly through more data, creating informed decisions that allow them to more accurately predict the future - a shift away from "descriptive analytics", towards "predictive analytics" (using past data to better understand what'll happen next). Google search uses machine learning to analyze historical search data and create more accurate search results for individual users.
