Advantages and Disadvantages of Machine Learning

28-Nov-2022

Software programs can now predict outcomes more accurately without having to be explicitly instructed to do so with the application of Machine Learning. Machine Learning (ML) is also a form of Artificial Intelligence that is transforming the way software performs. It exploits the historical data as input to forecast new output values. The advantages of machine learning are reflected in the use cases of Machine learning. Some of the common uses of ML include recommendation engines, malware threat detection, business process automation, spam filtering, fraud detection, and predictive maintenance. 

The importance of Machine learning cannot be ignored as it aids in the development of new goods and provides businesses with a picture of trends in consumer behavior and operational business patterns. A significant portion of the operations of many of today's top businesses, like Google, Facebook, and Uber, revolve around machine learning. For many businesses, machine learning has emerged as a key competitive differentiation.

This article will explore the numerous advantages of Machine Learning and how it is changing the performance of software that is employed across industries. We shall also look into the disadvantages of machine learning to help ML enthusiasts have concrete and in-depth knowledge of this dynamic growth in the spectrum of AI.

Advantages of Machine Learning

• Quick Identification of Trends and Patterns

• It is automatic and does not require human interference

• Continual Development

• Adoption by Multi-industries

Quick Identification of Trends and Patterns

Machine learning can evaluate massive amounts of data and find precise patterns and trends that people might overlook. For Instance, e-commerce sites like Amazon are enabled with information on their customers' purchasing patterns and history which helps in recommending them the appropriate goods, discounts, and reminders. It makes use of the information to present consumers with pertinent advertisements.

A machine can gain knowledge more as it accumulates data, and as it accumulates data, it also learns patterns and trends. Consider how social networking sites like Facebook or Instagram function. The data of the users' interests and browsing history are recorded and understood through patterns that are then displayed to them to maintain their interest in the same app. Machine learning assists in recognizing trends and patterns in this way.

It is automatic and does not require human interference

Machine learning equips computers with the ability to carry out the entire data interpretation and analysis process on its own. There is no need for you to supervise your project at every stage. Take for example how anti-virus programs work. They learn to filter new threats upon identification. 

For the prediction or interpretation of the results, no human interaction is necessary. The entire machine learning process begins with machine learning and anticipating the algorithm or program that will produce the best outcome. Another example is Google Home, which recognizes voice commands and then determines the desired outcome for the user. 

Continual Development

With experience and more operations, Machine learning gain effectiveness and accuracy. They can consequently make wiser selections. Take the example of creating a weather forecast model. With the expansion of your data, the predictions become more accurate and the algorithm speeds up in producing the predictions. 

Handles data with several dimensions and variants

A machine learning algorithm is capable of managing multivariate and multidimensional data even in the most uncertain contexts and dynamic situations. It can manage a range of facts even in a hazy and unpredictable environment. It is both multifaceted and multitasking.

Adoption by Multi-industries

Machine learning is employed in a variety of industries, including education, medicine, engineering, and other areas of daily life. ranging from a very modest application to very large and complex structured machines that aid in data analysis and prediction. It not only turns into a healthcare provider but also offers prospective clients more individualized services.

Disadvantages of Machine Learning

Despite its many benefits and growing popularity, machine learning isn't flawless. There are a few disadvantages of machine learning that constrain its functioning. Let us analyze them below in detail.

• Data Acquisition

• Time and Resources Intensive

• Chances of faulty Interpretation of data

• Requirement of more Space

Data Acquisition

Machine learning mandates the need for large, unbiased, comprehensive, and high-quality data sets for training. They are sometimes required to stand by for new data generation. For better forecasting or decision-making with Machine Learning, a computer needs to be fed with more data since the more data it receives, the more accurate and effective it becomes. But occasionally, it might not be achievable. Additionally, the information must be accurate and neutral. Data requirements can be challenging at times.

Time and Resources Intensive

For machine learning (ML) to be effective, the algorithms must have enough time to mature and learn enough to achieve their goals with a high degree of accuracy and relevance. This could result in you needing more processing power from your machine. The machine may occasionally take a long time to learn because efficacy and efficiency can only be attained via experience, which again takes time. In addition, it is challenged by the need for more resources to run, for instance more computers. 

Chances of Faulty Interpretation of data

The capacity to correctly comprehend the information produced by the algorithms presents one of the significant disadvantages of machine learning. Although autonomous, machine learning is prone to mistakes. Consider training an algorithm with data sets that are too tiny to be inclusive. You obtain biased predictions from a biased training set in the end. This results in customers seeing irrelevant advertisements. Such flaws in ML can start a cascade of mistakes that may be undiscovered for a very long time. Moreover, it takes time to identify problems and even longer to find remedies. Sometimes data that is error-free can nonetheless be interpreted incorrectly by a machine because the data it was given may not have met all of its requirements.

Requirement of More Space

More storage capacity is needed because more data is needed for interpretation, which is one of the biggest disadvantages of machine learning. It takes a lot of storage space to handle or keep data for further decision-making because more data means the computer has more information or material to learn from.

Understanding the Importance of Machine Learning through its use cases

Machine learning is widely utilized in all sectors of the economy and has a wide range of applications, particularly in those that entail gathering, interpreting, and reacting to massive amounts of data. These significant applications help us to understand the importance of machine learning.

Some of the major applications of machine learning are as follows:

Healthcare

The use of machine learning is pervasive in this sector. Healthcare researchers can make use of the data and employ it for making recommendations. Patients can achieve better results by using accurate insights provided by NLP. Certain therapy approaches have been enhanced such as Ct- Scan, Ultrasound, X-rays, etc. which is attained by assessing outside data on the patient's situation. The key applications of machine learning in this sector include- medical imaging, genetic data, and natural language processing (NLP). 

Automation

This is among the key uses of machine learning that contribute to the system's automation. Without human intervention, it equips machines to perform monotonous tasks. You have a responsibility as an engineer in machine learning and data science professionals to complete any given work repeatedly and without making any mistakes. For humans, it is an unrealistic situation. Since it can do iterative tasks faster, machine learning has created a variety of models to automate the task.

Banking and Finance

A branch of AI called machine learning makes precise predictions using statistical models. Machine learning has a wide range of applications in the banking and finance industry, such as:

• Fraud detection, 

• Risk management

• Portfolio management

• Chatbots

• Document analysis

• High-frequency trading

• Mortgage underwriting

• AML detection

• Anomaly detection, 

• Risk credit score detection

• KYC processing

As a result, machine learning is frequently used in the banking and financial industry to decrease both error and processing time.

Prediction of traffic and transportation

Everyone uses this as part of their everyday routine, making it one of the most popular Machine Learning applications. It facilitates a variety of tasks, including highly secure routes, accurate ETA generation, vehicle breakdown prediction, and driving prescriptive analytics. Despite the fact that machine learning has resolved transportation issues, it still has to be improved. Building an intelligent transportation system is made possible by statistical Machine Learning methods. Deep Learning also investigated the intricate relationships between traffic, highways, roads, the environment, crashes, etc. In order to predict insights into routes and traffic, machine learning technology has enhanced daily traffic management as well as the collection of traffic data.

Filtering and Detection of Email Spam and Malware

Machine learning aids in the classification of emails into several categories, such as spam, critical, general, etc. Users can quickly determine if an email is important or spam this way. Machine learning methods like the Multi-Layer Perceptron, Decision tree, and Nave Bayes classifier can also accomplish this. Google employs a number of significant spam filters, including content filters, header filters, rules-based filters, permission filters, general blacklist filters, etc.

Virtual Personal Assistance

This feature aids us in a variety of ways, including, opening emails, playing music, scheduling appointments, making phone calls, searching for contacts on our mobile devices, and more. A few popular uses of machine learning are Google Assistant, Siri, Alexa, Cortana, etc. These virtual personal assistants capture our voice commands, transport them to a cloud server, decode them using ML algorithms, and then take the appropriate action.

Just as the sides of the coin, Machine Learning has both its benefits as well as drawbacks. We have discussed them at length in this article. The setbacks however, do not depreciate the importance of machine learning. Machine Learning has been around for decades and it is poised to evolve bringing massive transformations in the future. 

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