How has machine learning changed so that the average person can use it?

PART TWO

By now, you’ve heard some buzz about machine learning. Maybe you’ve read about how it works and how it’s transforming the way we are able to use data. But you might be asking yourself what can machine learning do for me and why can it outperform people who have a lifetime’s worth of experience in the industry? What are the ways in which machine learning is superior? How has machine learning changed so that the average person can use it with minimal training?

Machine learning is a tool that allows you to find patterns in large data sets faster and more accurately and thereby predict outcomes. One of the main benefits of machine learning is that it does not have human bias. A human wouldn’t be able to build a calculation like the ones that machine learning is able to produce because the calculations are so complicated. Machine learning can also potentially see relationships that a person wouldn’t be able to anticipate.

Another benefit of machine learning is that it can work with huge amounts of data, and in fact the more data it has to work with the more accurate it will be. If you have small amounts of data or the quality of your data is not good, then you’re not going to be able to get an accurate prediction. But if you have ten thousand or even a million data items to train, your results will be much better.

Machine learning is also capable of taking your data and creating results specific to you. Especially with PetroVisor, the model used for prediction is built around your data because everyone has different systems. If you’re in Saudi Arabia, your data will probably be very different than data from an unconventionals operation in West Texas, so machine learning’s ability to be flexible around different kinds of data is important and beneficial.

Using machine learning has recently become easier with the advent of automatic machine learning. Auto-ML makes choosing algorithms easy—it can be accomplished with just a few clicks after minimal training. The hardest part of machine learning is identifying the problem and figuring out what the relevant data is, and auto-ML does this work for you. This makes machine learning accessible to all kinds of professionals with a wide variety of expertise who are looking to take advantage of the benefits of machine learning.

Machine learning is not always the best predictive solution—sometimes, for example, a physical model is better. But as the technology evolves it is becoming better and easier to use, and its speed and ability to process huge amounts of data makes it a smart and increasingly popular choice for predicting outcomes.