It’s been nearly 50 years since Stanley Kubrick introduced HAL (Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer) in the science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey. What appeared to be fantastic and futuristic at the time is quickly becoming commonplace as automated services and electronic butlers assume an increasingly important role in day-to-day life. As a result, machine learning is a topic of conversation in business.

“Machine learning is fundamentally about automated systems learning to identify patterns and relationships in data using hundreds of variables,” according to the fall 2016 edition of Talent Economy. This is important because a machine’s ability to perform this kind of work dramatically outstrips the average worker’s capacity.

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