Machine learning algorithms set to transform industries

Machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence tools are receiving a lot of attention in the analytics world these days, and industry experts and experienced users say the plaudits are well-deserved. "These models are making a big difference, and if you're not considering how to use them in your product, you probably should," said Jeff Dean, a senior fellow at Google who helped lead development of TensorFlow, the company's open source machine learning platform. Machine learning has come to play a central role in the majority of new products Google develops, Dean said in a presentation at Spark Summit 2016 in San Francisco. For example, it's at the core of training speech-recognition tools used in the Android mobile operating system. Machine learning technology also helped Google create a tool that automatically tags photos uploaded by users by examining what's happening in the photo.