It enables the computers or the machines to make data-driven decisions rather than being explicitly programmed for CARRYING out a certain task. These programs or algorithms are designed in a way that they learn and IMPROVE over time when are exposed to new data.

Machine Learning algorithm is trained USING a training data set to create a model. When new input data is introduced to the ML algorithm, it makes a prediction based on the model.

The prediction is evaluated for accuracy and if the accuracy is acceptable, the Machine Learning algorithm is deployed. If the accuracy is not acceptable, the Machine Learning algorithm is trained again and again with an augmented training data set.

For EXAMPLE :

Online Shopping

While doing online shopping, when we are checking for a product, we can notice the recommendations for a product similar to what you are looking for, and we can also notice “the person bought this product also bought this” combination of products. How are they doing this recommendation? This is machine learning.

Insurance policy

Sometimes you are getting calls from insurance/third party company for asking you to take insurance, What do you think, do they call everyone? No, they call only a few selected customers who they think will purchase their product. How do they select? This is TARGET marketing and can be applied using Clustering. This is machine learning.