Forbes published “A Short History of Machine Learning“. Here is a quote: “We don’t have autonomous androids struggling with existential crises — yet — but we are getting ever closer to what people tend to call ‘Artificial Intelligence’”

“Machine Learning is a sub-set of artificial intelligence where computer algorithms are used to autonomously learn from data and information. In machine learning computers don’t have to be explicitly programmed but can change and improve their algorithms by themselves.“

“2011 — IBM’s Watson beats its human competitors at Jeopardy.

2015 – Over 3,000 AI and Robotics researchers, endorsed by Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak (among many others), sign an open letter warning of the danger of autonomous weapons which select and engage targets without human intervention.”

So are we drawing closer to artificial intelligence? Some scientists believe that’s actually the wrong question. They believe a computer will never “think” in the way that a human brain does, and that comparing the computational analysis and algorithms of a computer to the machinations of the human mind is like comparing apples and oranges.

Regardless, computers’ abilities to see, understand, and interact with the world around them is growing at a remarkable rate. And as the quantities of data we produce continue to grow exponentially, so will our computers’ ability to process and analyze — and learn from — that data grow and expand.”