Definition

A subset of AI that enables systems to learn from data, identify patterns, and improve performance over time without being explicitly programmed. It powers many modern AI applications by allowing models to make predictions, classify data, and adapt to new information.

Example

Spotify uses machine learning to recommend songs based on your listening history and behavior.

How It’s Used in AI

Machine learning is the foundation for technologies like speech recognition, recommendation engines, fraud detection, and image classification. It involves training algorithms on datasets to generalize and perform tasks on unseen data - often improving as more data is introduced.

Pro Tip

Not all AI is machine learning, but nearly all modern AI applications rely on it. Start with supervised learning if you're new - it’s the most approachable.