Definition
Machine Learning (ML) is an area of Artificial Intelligence that uses algorithms to learn patterns and relationships from data rather than relying only on explicitly programmed rules.
Human Explanation
A model learns from examples and can then recognise related patterns or estimate outcomes for new data.
Why it Matters
ML enables models to identify relationships that may be difficult to describe using fixed rules.
Conceptual Boundary
Machine Learning is part of Artificial Intelligence, not a synonym for it. A system that uses ML is also not automatically accurate, autonomous or appropriate for every decision.
Practical Perspective
Model performance depends on the relevance and quality of data, preparation of the training set, method selection and validation under the conditions in which the model will be used.
Conceptual Structure
AI contains multiple approaches. ML learns models from data. Supervised and Unsupervised Learning are two ML paradigms, alongside other approaches such as reinforcement and self-supervised learning.