Machine learning leads the pack in AI research and dollars

It is no secret that artificial intelligence is one of the hottest tech trends of today, but there is a wide range of research fields that falls under the umbrella of AI. According to data from Venture Scanner, machine learning research is the clear leader in the industry by a wide margin, despite the fact that it is also one of the newest avenues of AI research. Machine learning is essentially the ability for a computer program to learn from new data and improve its functionality over time. For example, Google's AlphaGo AI learned how to play Go by evaluating millions of moves from real games, and as it continues to play more matches, it is constantly getting better and better. This allowed AlphaGo to defeat one of the top Go players in the world earlier this year, a landmark feat in the field of AI research.