A long time ago in a galaxy far far away I studied neural networks, the methodology that underpins much of machine learning, as part of my master’s degree in computer science. At the time it was a technology with a lot of promise and many flaws. In the following years I was always very sceptical when someone created hype around intelligent machines (I’m looking at you Siri).
Over the last 3-4 years however the technology has leaped forwards at an incredible pace. Deep learning (a rebranding of neural networks?) is especially hot these days, as the below Google Trends graph shows:
If I was an investor I’d be giving startups that are using this technology a very close look. Which is why a recent blog post by just such an investor caught my eye recently (via the excellent Data Elixir).
In Machine Intelligence In The Real World investor Shivon Zillis discusses the various types of machine learning companies that are making waves in the tech world from IBM’s Watson to The Grid. Zillis makes an attempt to categorise machine learning startups into groups such as those that “solve industry-specific problems with laser-like focus” to others he calls “alchemists” (no pun intended) that promise to turn your data into gold.
If someone would have told me ten years ago we’d have self driving cars in 2015 I would have laughed in their face. It will be exciting, and slightly scary, to see what the world of machine learning will give us in the next decade. I look forward to it.
