Cape not required: Machine Learning alone can turn you into superhero

Gauri Shah

Always wanted to be a superhero but lacked the powers? Now Machine Learning will bestow upon you the capabilities and the (proverbial) cape! With superpowers like a fail-proof memory, flawless driving skills and the ability to mind-read, you’ll soon become the hero your childhood self would have been proud of.

Machine Learning is the ability to learn and detect patterns without being told how to do it. Think of it as the way in which kids learn. A five-year old can identify a vehicle as a bus after seeing five buses. Her parents don’t teach her that a bus has four wheels, a dozen windows, and is mostly red in color. She figures that out on her own – detecting a pattern without being explicitly taught that it’s a pattern. Now apply the same idea to more complicated applications like predicting stock market prices – you study the pattern of historical prices and predict what the future stock price will be! That’s machine learning for you in a nutshell.

Here are some cool examples that technology brings to us with the power of machine learning under the hood.

Powered by machine learning algorithms, self-driving cars will now take you from point A to B, and you don’t even have to lift a finger. No more bad drivers, parking issues or in-flight collisions with birds.

Heard about the man who was recently reunited with his car after 20 years? Turns out it was never stolen; he had simply forgotten where he had parked it! Well, that embarrassment will never befall you, because Machine Learning can help your phone read, remember and remind you of your parking spot and even the preferred route you would like to take to work! Now no more memorizing pillar numbers on shopping trips to the mall!

Of course not…that’s just won’t..erm..suit them. And now, thanks to the auto-reorder feature on your online grocery apps, you won’t have to stop by any stores either. The app will make sure you never run out of pepper pots…or flour, or sugar.  Let’s celebrate with an auto-ordered tub of ice-cream!

Machine Learning algorithms are great at detecting online fraud, and their powers are only increasing with time. Now no more getting swindled during online transactions.

Any superhero worth his cape will never waste time looking through 1001 outfits to find the perfect one. Just let the recommendation engines on online shopping sites play personal stylist and suggest the best outfit for you. Time to suit up!

Know what your loved ones and customers would like even without them telling you! By analyzing past preferences and browsing behaviors, Machine Learning can help you predict the products/services/experiences that people are looking for. Now isn’t that X-cellent, Professor?!

The author is Data Scientist at Persistent Systems