Recommender systems are a common application of machine learning, and they use historical data to provide personalized recommendations to users. In the case of Netflix, the system uses a combination of collaborative filtering and content-based filtering to recommend movies and TV shows to users based on their viewing history, ratings, and other factors such as genre preferences. Much of the technology behind self-driving cars is based on machine learning, deep learning in particular. In some cases, machine learning can gain insight or automate decision-making in cases where humans would not be able to, Madry said.

Machine learning offers a variety of techniques and models you can choose based on your application, the size of data you’re processing, and the type of problem you want to solve. A successful deep learning application requires a very large amount of data (thousands of images) to train the model, as well as GPUs, what does machine learning mean or graphics processing units, to rapidly process your data. Computer scientists choose different machine learning approaches depending how the system will be used. For example, reinforcement learning teaches a system as it interacts with an environment by offering it rewards when it performs an action correctly.