Machine learning (ML) is a branch of artificial intelligence that systematically applies algorithms to synthesize the underlying relationships among data and information. For example, ML systems can be trained on automatic speech recognition systems (such as iPhone’s Siri) to convert acoustic information in a sequence of speech data into semantic structure expressed in the form of a string of words.

ML is already finding widespread uses in web search, ad placement, credit scoring, stock market prediction, gene sequence analysis, behavior analysis, smart coupons, drug development, weather forecasting, big data analytics, and many more applications. ML will play a decisive role in the development of a host of user-centric innovations.

ML owes its burgeoning adoption to its ability to characterize underlying relationships within large arrays of data in ways that solve problems in big data analytics, behavioral pattern recognition, and information evolution. ML systems can moreover be trained to categorize the changing conditions of a process so as to model variations in operating behavior. As bodies of knowledge evolve under the influence of new ideas and technologies, ML systems can identify disruptions to the existing models and redesign and retrain themselves to adapt to and coevolve with the new knowledge.