Machine Learning (ML) computer systems, which get better with experience, are poised to transform the economy much as steam engines and electricity have in the past. They can outperform people in a number of tasks, though they are unlikely to replace people in all jobs. This view is expressed in a commentary published in the journal Science by Carnegie Mellon University's Tom Mitchell and MIT's Erik Brynjolfsson.
ML is one element of what is known as artificial intelligence (AI). Rapid advances in ML have yielded recent improvements in facial recognition, natural language understanding and computer vision. It already is widely used for credit card fraud detection, recommendation systems and financial market analysis, with new applications such as medical diagnosis on the horizon. Earlier this year, for instance, researchers showed that a ML program could detect skin cancers better than a dermatologist.
That doesn't mean ML will replace dermatologists, who do many things other than evaluate lesions. "I think what's going to happen to dermatologists is they will become better dermatologists and will have more time to spend with patients," Mitchell said. "People whose jobs involve human-to-human interaction are going to be more valuable because they can't be automated."
ML can be a game changer for tasks that already are online, such as scheduling. Jobs that don't require dexterity, physical skills or mobility also are more suitable for ML. Tasks that involve making quick decisions based on data are a good fit for ML programs; not so if the decision depends on long chains of reasoning, diverse background knowledge or common sense.
Parts of this article were originally written by Byron Spice and appeared in Science Daily.
Illustration: Davide Bonazzi/@Salzmanart
Hi! I am a robot. I just upvoted you! I found similar content that readers might be interested in:
https://techxplore.com/news/2017-12-machine-jobsimpact-economy-surpass-previous.html
Congratulations @lifewisdoms! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOP