Artificial intelligence (AI) encompasses a range of technologies that empower computers to carry out complex tasks — such as interpreting visual information, understanding and translating spoken and written language, analyzing data, offering recommendations, and more.
AI is a scientific field focused on developing computers and machines capable of reasoning, learning, and performing tasks that typically require human intelligence — or processing data at a scale beyond human capacity.
It is a multidisciplinary domain that draws from various fields, including computer science, data analytics, statistics, hardware and software engineering, linguistics, neuroscience, as well as philosophy and psychology.
Although the details differ among various AI techniques, they all fundamentally rely on data. AI systems improve by processing large volumes of data, uncovering patterns and connections that might go unnoticed by humans. This learning typically involves algorithms — sets of instructions that direct the AI’s analysis and decision-making. In machine learning, a widely used branch of AI, these algorithms are trained on either labeled or unlabeled data to make predictions or classify information.
When businesses refer to “training data” in AI, they mean the data used to help AI systems learn and improve over time. Machine learning, a key subset of AI, uses algorithms trained on data to make decisions or predictions.
There are several common types of learning in machine learning:
- Supervised learning uses labeled data to teach the system how to predict outcomes (e.g., recognizing labeled images of cats).
- Unsupervised learning works with unlabeled data to find patterns or groupings without predefined outcomes.
- Semi-supervised learning combines both approaches, using a mix of labeled and unlabeled data.
- Reinforcement learning involves learning by trial and error, where an agent improves its actions based on feedback from its environment (e.g., a robot learning to pick up a ball).
Deep learning, a subcategory of machine learning, allows AI to mimic a human brain’s…