Examples of Machine Learning Problems - 2

  • Speech Understanding : Given an utterance from a user, identify the specific request made by the user. A model of this problem would allow a program to understand and make an attempt to fulfil that request. The iPhone with Siri has this capability.

  • Face Detection : Given a digital photo album of many hundreds of digital photographs, identify those photos that include a given person. A model of this decision process would allow a program to organize photos by person. Some cameras and software like iPhoto has this capability.

Face Detection

Example of Face Detection in a Photo.
Photo by mr. ‘sto Licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons License.

  • Product Recommendation : Given a purchase history for a customer and a large inventory of products, identify those products in which that customer will be interested and likely to purchase. A model of this decision process would allow a program to make recommendations to a customer and motivate product purchases. Amazon has this capability. Also think of Facebook, GooglePlus and LinkedIn that recommend users to connect with you after you sign-up.

  • Medical Diagnosis : Given the symptoms exhibited in a patient and a database of anonymized patient records, predict whether the patient is likely to have an illness. A model of this decision problem could be used by a program to provide decision support to medical professionals.