Definition
Methods that adjust a model using data or experience from interaction to improve a system's performance on a target task.
Samuel's checkers research, published in 1959, demonstrated a program improving its performance through experience. Machine learning later developed a variety of models and learning settings. This entry does not treat that paper as the common origin of all learning algorithms.
Learning outcomes depend on data, objective functions, and evaluation methods. Improvements on the training set must be tested on unseen data or real tasks and cannot be taken directly as evidence of generalization.
Principles and impact
Problems solved
- Reduced dependence on manually writing individual decision rules.
Principles
- Adjusts model parameters or structure using experience and feedback on objectives.
Improvements
Not recorded
Significance
- Supported a broad range of applications, including recognition, prediction, generation, and decision-making.
History and applications
People
Arthur L. Samuel
Organizations
Not recorded
Events
Not recorded
Applications
Classification、Prediction、Pattern recognition
Limitations
- Data bias, distribution shifts, and evaluation leakage can cause apparent results to diverge from actual capabilities.
Upstream and downstream relations
Upstream
Sources: A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous ActivityLearning Representations by Back-propagating Errors
Sources: Some Studies in Machine Learning Using the Game of CheckersWhat is Artificial Intelligence? — Basic Questions
Sources: The Perceptron: A Probabilistic Model for Information Storage and Organization in the BrainLearning Representations by Back-propagating Errors
Downstream
Sources: A Fast Learning Algorithm for Deep Belief NetsImageNet Classification with Deep Convolutional Neural Networks
Sources: Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium ThermodynamicsDenoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models
Sources: Q-learning
Sources: Support-vector Networks