Machine Learning: Hands-On for Developers and Technical Professionals

Chapter 1What Is Machine Learning?

Let's start at the beginning, looking at what machine learning actually is, its history, and where it is used in industry. This chapter also describes some of the software used throughout the book so you can have everything installed and be ready to get working on the practical things.

History of Machine Learning

So, what is the definition of machine learning? Over the last six decades, several pioneers of the industry have worked to steer us in the right direction.

Alan Turing

In his 1950 paper, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” Alan Turing asked, “Can machines think?” (See www.csee.umbc.edu/courses/471/papers/turing.pdf for the full paper.) The paper describes the “Imitation Game,” which involves three participants—a human acting as a judge, another human, and a computer that is attempting to convince the judge that it is human. The judge would type into a terminal program to “talk” to the other two participants. Both the human and the computer would respond, and the judge would decide which response came from the computer. If the judge couldn't consistently tell the difference between the human and computer responses then the computer won the game.

The test continues today in the form of the Loebner Prize, an annual competition in artificial intelligence. The aim is simple enough: Convince the judges that they are chatting to a human instead of a computer chat bot program.

Arthur Samuel

In 1959, Arthur Samuel defined machine learning ...