Machine learning is a very specific form of artificial intelligence. Through algorithms designed to learn from experience, machine learning -- also known as ML -- adapts and grows in efficiency over time as more data is added. The ML-driven program "learns" from its mistakes, and in doing so can reduce the time it takes to analyze mountains of data from years to minutes. Melissa Guzman and Sam Silva are using machine learning to find insights into patterns underlying the natural world. Two recently hired faculty members, Melissa Guzman, Gabilan Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, and Sam Silva, assistant professor of Earth sciences, both at at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, are already garnering attention for their usage of machine learning to find insights into the seemingly unknowable -- the patterns underlying the natural world.

The first question many people ask about artificial intelligence (AI) is, "Will it be good or bad?" The answer is … yes. Canadian company BlueDot used AI technology to detect the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, just hours after the first cases were diagnosed. Compiling data from local news reports, social media accounts and government documents, the infectious disease data analytics firm warned of the emerging crisis a week before the World Health Organization made any official announcement. While predictive algorithms could help us stave off pandemics or other global threats as well as manage many of our day-to-day challenges, AI's ultimate impact is impossible to predict.

The first question many people ask about artificial intelligence (AI) is, "Will it be good or bad?" The answer is … yes. Canadian company BlueDot used AI technology to detect the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, just hours after the first cases were diagnosed. Compiling data from local news reports, social media accounts and government documents, the infectious disease data analytics firm warned of the emerging crisis a week before the World Health Organization made any official announcement. While predictive algorithms could help us stave off pandemics or other global threats as well as manage many of our day-to-day challenges, AI's ultimate impact is impossible to predict.