13.1 What is machine learning?
Consider my complete product browsing and purchase history with an online retailer. This data represents my experience of buying from the seller and their experience selling to me. How can the data and my new purchases help the retailer learn how to recommend and sell me additional products and services?
Machine learning is a large set of techniques where computer algorithms learn from existing data rather than having hardcoded decisions built into them. We create a model and train it from a subset of our data. If we have done a good job, this model predicts what we should do next to accomplish a goal, such as selling someone new clothes, books, or music. model
Such algorithms and models improve their accuracy as they receive new data. They might also improve when humans or processes intervene to judge the correctness and quality of predictions and results.
In unsupervised learning, an algorithm looks for patterns in the data...
