One of Microsoft's top researchers is predicting that the medical field is about to experience a revolution. That revolution is going to be brought about by machine learning. Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence that involves programming computers to analyze vast amounts of data, recognize patterns, and "learn" in a sense. While it's already being used in limited ways in the health care industry, it's about to become a major player. Over the years, humans have collected vast amounts of data about various forms of cancer. Thanks to machine learning, we can input all of that information into a computer and it can analyze the hundreds of thousands of scans and train itself to detect cancer much more accurately than even trained doctors can.