learning
What It Means
Learning in AI refers to a system's ability to improve its performance over time by analyzing data and adjusting its behavior based on patterns it discovers. Unlike traditional software that follows fixed rules, learning systems get better at their tasks through experience, whether that's recognizing images, predicting outcomes, or making recommendations.
Why Chief AI Officers Care
Learning capabilities determine whether your AI investments will provide ongoing value or become obsolete as business conditions change. Systems that can't learn require constant manual updates and retraining, creating significant operational overhead and limiting their ability to adapt to new market conditions, customer behaviors, or business requirements.
Real-World Example
A fraud detection system initially flags transactions based on basic rules, but through learning, it begins to identify new fraud patterns by analyzing thousands of legitimate versus fraudulent transactions, automatically improving its accuracy and catching previously undetected schemes without human intervention.
Common Confusion
People often confuse AI learning with human learning, expecting systems to instantly understand context and nuance. In reality, AI learning is pattern recognition that requires large amounts of structured data and may not generalize well to situations significantly different from training scenarios.
Industry-Specific Applications
See how this term applies to healthcare, finance, manufacturing, government, tech, and insurance.
Healthcare: In healthcare, AI learning systems continuously improve diagnostic accuracy, treatment recommendations, and operational ...
Finance: In finance, learning algorithms continuously analyze market data, transaction patterns, and customer behaviors to enhanc...
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Includes:
- 6 industry-specific applications
- Relevant regulations by sector
- Real compliance scenarios
- Implementation guidance
Technical Definitions
NISTNational Institute of Standards and Technology
"A procedure in artificial intelligence by which an artificial intelligence program improves its performance by gaining knowledge."Source: Dennis_Mercadal
"the acquisition of novel information, behaviors, or abilities after practice, observation, or other experiences, as evidenced by change in behavior, knowledge, or brain function. Learning involves consciously or nonconsciously attending to relevant aspects of incoming information, mentally organizing the information into a coherent cognitive representation, and integrating it with relevant existing knowledge activated from long-term memory."Source: APA_learning
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