Though your impressions of machine learning may be colored by these mass media depictions, today’s algorithms are too application-specific to pose any danger of becoming self-aware. The goal of today’s machine learning is not to create an artificial brain, but rather to assist us in making sense of the world’s massive data stores.

The origins of machine learning – 

Since birth, we are inundated with data. Our body’s sensors—the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and…