What Is Machine Learning and Why Does It Matter?

Welcome to "What Is," a new column on dedicated to giving simple answers to complex things that affect the products around you. Submit yours to [email protected] and we'll do our best to get them answered. Every day we hear buzzwords like artificial intelligence and machine learning at some point or another in the news cycle, typically associated with smartphones, smart speakers, drones, and so on. It's easy to take for granted that these are technologies that make our lives easier and more convenient, undergirding everything from facial recognition to autocomplete on Google. Even Spotify uses machine learning for music recommendations.