A: Our lives are full of daily interactions with services powered by machine learning algorithms, be it avoiding traffic using Google Maps, looking through personalised recommendations on Netflix, humming a tune to music-identifying app Shazam or navigating your spam folder.

The term "machine learning" is perhaps among the biggest buzzwords that permeate the media in recent years. Oftentimes sensationally worded headlines make it sound like machines can learn just like humans do. Big success stories, predominantly in tech, are emphasised, such as DeepMind's AlphaGo defeating Go grandmaster Lee Sedol, and the progress seen in self-driving cars.