machine learning

2.6 Types of Machine Learning

Diagram showing the four main types of Machine Learning: Supervised, Unsupervised, Semi-Supervised, and Reinforcement Learning

ML has four major types. Each type solves different problems.

⭐ Type 1 — Supervised Learning (Most Important in ML)

Supervised learning uses labeled data.

Example:

ImageLabel
Cat photoCat
Dog photoDog

Used for:

  • Email spam detection
  • Disease prediction
  • Face recognition
  • Credit card fraud detection

Why it’s powerful:

It learns the relationship between input → output.

⭐ Type 2 — Unsupervised Learning

Learns from unlabeled data. Finds hidden patterns.

Examples:

  • Customer segmentation
  • Product grouping
  • Document clustering

Algorithms:

  • K-Means
  • Hierarchical Clustering
  • PCA

⭐ Type 3 — Semi-Supervised Learning

Mix of:

  • Few labeled samples
  • Many unlabeled samples

Used in:

  • YouTube video tagging
  • Facial recognition
  • Speech labeling

⭐ Type 4 — Reinforcement Learning (Learning by Reward)

Agent takes actions → gets reward → learns.

Used in:

  • Self-driving cars
  • Robotics
  • Game AI
  • Navigation

Which type of Machine Learning uses labeled data (e.g., images with names 'Cat', 'Dog')?

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