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AI Lexicon — U

Published May 17, 2024last updated May 17, 2024

Do you know your AI from your ML? Or your facial recognition from your Ethical AI? Our AI Lexicon offers easy-to-understand definitions and examples of AI in everyday life. It really is what you need to know.

DW Science | AI Lexicon by Zulfikar Abbany
Remember: 'U' can control AI Image: Ayse Tasci-Steinebach/DW

Unsupervised learning

Contrary to supervised learning, an unsupervised machine learning technology uses an algorithm to determine and organize sets of unlabeled data.

For example, an algorithm could be fed images of cats and dogs and it would independently — without human help — look for patterns, similarities and differences in the images. It would then be able to identify and sort cats and dogs in groups of images.

Researchers say unsupervised learning is good for searching through exploratory data to analyze and categorize — so, basically, when you don’t know what you’re looking for. (za/fs)

 

Sources:

What is unsupervised learning? (IBM) https://www.ibm.com/topics/unsupervised-learning (accessed October 17, 2023)

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We're keen to hear your feedback. Suggest an entry by sending us a comment. And let us know if you feel we have missed something, got it wrong, and tell us whether our AI Lexicon has helped you understand the technology better.

Written and edited by: Zulfikar Abbany (za), Fred Schwaller (fs)

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