Machine learning allows computers to solve tasks that have, until now, only been performed by individuals. Machine learning is driving an explosion in the capabilities of artificial intelligence, from driving cars to interpreting speech, helping software make sense of the chaotic and unpredictable real world. But what exactly is machine learning and what is making it possible for the latest machine learning boom? At a very high level, the process of teaching a computer system how to make precise predictions when fed data is machine learning. These predictions could address if a piece of fruit in a picture is a banana or an apple, seeing pedestrians crossing the road in front of a self-driving vehicle, whether the use of the word book in a sentence relates to a paperback or a hotel booking, whether an email is a spam, or correctly understanding speech enough to produce YouTube video captions. TYPES OF MACHINE LEARNING Machine learning is generally split into two main categories: s...