Introduction to Machine

Learning..

“A breakthrough in machine learning

would be worth ten Microsofts”
(Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft)
 Machine Learning (ML) Definition

Samuel, an American pioneer in the field of

computer
• gaming and artificial intelligence,
coined the term "machine learning" in 1959
while at IBM.

“Machine learning is a type of artificial

intelligence (AI) that provides computers with
the ability to learn without being explicitly
programmed.”
 What is Machine Learning (ML)?

• Automating automation
• Getting computers to program themselves
• New capability for computers
• Grew out of work in AI
 What Machine Learning (ML) Do?

We investigate how computer agents can

improve
• their perception, cognition, and
action with experience.
Machine Learning is about machines
improving from data, knowledge, experience,
and interaction.
 Machine Learning Examples:

-Database mining
•• Large datasets from growth of automation/web
• e.g , Web click data, medical records, biology, Engineering.
-Applications can’t program by hand
• Handwriting recognition, most of Natural Language
Processing(NLP), computer Vision.
-Self-customizing programs
• e.g., Amazon etc
-Understanding human learning(brain, real AI)
Traditional Programming

Data
Computer Output
Program

Machine Learning

Data
Computer Program
Output
Machine learning focuses on the development of
computer programs that can change when exposed
to new data.
 Machine Learning Scope

ML is the ability to intelligently handle large

and• complex amounts of information in
various disciplines..
• Statistics
• knowledge representation
• planning and control
• Databases
• Computer systems
• Machine vision
• Natural language processing and many more.
Why Use Machine Learning?
First, there are problems for which there exist no
human experts.

Example: in modern automated manufacturing facilities, there is a need to

predict machine failures before they occur by analyzing sensor readings.
Because the machines are new, there are no human experts who can be
interviewed by a programmer to provide the knowledge necessary to build a
computer system. A machine learning system can study recorded data and
subsequent machine failures and learn prediction rules.
Second, there are problems where human experts
exist, but where they are unable to explain their
expertise.

This is the case in many perceptual tasks, such as speech recognition, hand-writing
recognition, and natural language understanding. Virtually all humans exhibit
expert-level abilities on these tasks, but none of them can describe the detailed
steps that they follow as they perform them. Fortunately, humans can provide
machines with examples of the inputs and correct outputs for these tasks, so
machine learning algorithms can learn to map the inputs to the outputs.
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Third, there are problems where
phenomena are changing rapidly.

Example: people would like to predict the future behavior of the stock market,
of consumer purchases, or of exchange rates. The rules and parameters
governing these behaviors change frequently, so that the computer program
for prediction would need to be rewritten frequently.
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Fourth, there are applications that need to be
customized for each computer user separately.

Example: a program to filter unwanted electronic mail messages. Different

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users will need different filters.
 Growth of Machine Learning
• Machine learning is preferred approach to
– Speech recognition, Natural language processing
– Computer vision
– Medical outcomes analysis
– Robot control
– Computational biology
– Web search
– E-commerce
• This trend is accelerating
– Improved machine learning algorithms
– Improved data capture, networking, faster computers
– Software too complex to write by hand
– New sensors / IO devices
– Demand for self-customization to user, environment
– [Your favorite area]
What can machine learning be used for?
 Types of Learning
• Supervised (inductive) learning

– Training data includes desired outputs where labels

are given.

• Unsupervised learning

– Training data does not include desired outputs where

labels are not given.
Types of Learning

Supervised
Learning
Classification
Regression/Prediction
Supervised Learning

•Classification:
A classification problem is when the output variable is a
category, such as “red” or “blue” or “disease” and “no disease”.
• Regression:
•A regression problem is when the output variable is a real value, such as

“dollars” or “weight
 Supervised Learning

Common classification algorithms include:

• Neural networks
• Decision trees
• Naïve Bayes classifier
• Discriminant analysis
• Support vector machines (SVM)
• Nearest neighbors (kNN)
Classification Problem 1
 Classification Problem 2

• Find a model for class attribute as a function

of the values of other attributes Model for predicting credit
Class worthiness
# years at
Level of Credit
Tid Employed present Employed
Education Worthy
address
1 Yes Graduate 5 Yes Yes
No
2 Yes High School 2 No
3 No Undergrad 1 No
4 Yes High School 10 Yes No Education
… … … … …
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{ High school,
Graduate
Undergrad }

Number of Number of
years years

> 3 yr < 3 yr > 7 yrs < 7 yrs

Yes No Yes No

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 Let’s summarize the things
that we have covered today?
A few things about:

– Machine learning Definition , examples,

applications.
– Types of Learning
– Supervised Learning
– Resources (Books, Journals, Conferences)