The power of machine learning reaches data management

Machine learning is a hot topic across the technology spectrum today. From self-driving cars, to catching nefarious content in the fight against terrorism, to apps that automatically retouch photos before you even take them, it is popping up just about everywhere. Each innovation is creating a new wave of business opportunity while simplifying and automating tasks that are generally beyond the reach of how much data we human beings can process at once, or even in a lifetime. While machine learning might seem a newly emerging trend – which it most certainly is – it is also a breakthrough that has been a long time coming. Back in 1959, computer science and gaming pioneer Arthur Samuel defined machine learning as giving "computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed."