Learn about a powerful tool of the future… in a minute or less
Machine learning is going to change the world — it’s time you understand it.
By Monte Zweben & Morgan Sweeney
Machine learning is poised to become as revolutionary a tool as the internet. It will change the way we work, the way we travel, and even the way we interact with our daily life. Right now, machine learning technologies are being researched in universities and used in businesses and governments all over the world; however, it’s not enough for specialists to interact with these new technologies — we all need to understand how these innovations work, so our voices are able to shape this new future.
Many people don’t understand what machine learning really is. Maybe you’ve seen the Terminator, or Next, or any other science fiction show where an Artificial Intelligence agent tries to destroy the human race. A lot of media has been devoted to unrealistic portrayals that exaggerate the power that AI may have. On the flip side, media that portrays the reality of machine learning is largely inaccessible for people without technical expertise. Until now.
ML Minutes is a new podcast that presents Machine Learning in a way that is fun, accessible, and convenient. Few people have the time to read books or watch movies these days, but everyone has time to listen to a podcast. Podcasts can entertain your mind while your hands do something else, like commuting to work, cleaning the dishes, or exercising. Not only will you improve yourself with new knowledge, having a podcast to entertain you can make these menial tasks interesting and fun!
ML Minutes has been optimized for engagement. Each episode is short, running for 15 minutes or less, but jam-packed with important information. You’ll learn about fascinating applications of machine learning through interviews with people who are innovating ways to change the world with this new technology.
In each episode, a new guest comes in to talk about a problem they’re solving with machine learning. They explain the impact of their problem, how they’re solving it, and future questions they want to explore. How did we fit all this into 15 minutes? Well, there’s a twist — within the episode, guests have only 1 minute to answer each question we ask them! The title, ML Minutes, comes from this 60-second format. Each episode of ML Minutes feels like an engaging conversation with a friend, except your friends are cutting-edge machine learning researchers and practitioners.
The first episode of the podcast is with Tom Mitchell, founder of Carnegie Mellon’s Machine Learning Department, whose research uses machine learning to understand where the meaning of words lie in the brain. Krishna Rao was the second guest, an Earth scientist pursuing his PhD at Stanford who developed a live fuel moisture map that helps predict devastating wildfires. Third was Manuela Veloso, head of J.P. Morgan’s Artificial Intelligence Research Lab, who discussed how she uses simulations to predict financial trends, and discussed the importance of machine learning explainability. Fourth, Oren Etzioni came on to discuss CORD-19, an initiative at the Allen Institute for AI that helps scientists fight COVID-19.
ML Minutes is a podcast that offers a fun, short, and simple explanation of groundbreaking advances in Machine Learning. It provides useful information to people who are curious about what machine learning can do, regardless of how much they know about it. By listening to and learning from the journey others have taken, ML Minutes will inspire the future generation to expand the possible applications of Machine Learning. I hope you’ll take a minute to be part of it.
You can listen to ML Minutes on our website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
