Machine Learning Demystified - DZone AI

Too often, when I hear someone talk about artificial intelligence (AI) or, more recently, machine learning (ML), the Terminator/Matrix scenario is repeated: a warning that we shouldn't meddle with powers we don't understand and that the consequences of not adhering to this warning can be dire indeed. I don't mean to say that AI/ML won't ever pose a risk in the future (though I still think we have a long way to go before the Matrix or Terminator situation), but what bothers me is that I think this fear has the telltale signs of a fear of the unknown. AI and machine learning are seen as something mysterious and therefore threatening, concepts shrouded in mystique and understood only by a few Gnostics of the AI/ML cult. I don't think it has to, or even should, be that way. So, what is machine learning?