:: COMPARE ::
The short answer
AI is the 1955 ambition — simulate any feature of intelligence. Machine learning is one method that turned out to work. The names get swapped commercially because the older one sells better.
Side by side
| Aspect | Artificial intelligence | Machine learning |
|---|---|---|
| Is a | Goal | Method |
| Named | 1955 | 1959 |
| Scope | All of intelligence | Learning from data |
| Falsifiable | Barely | Yes |
What each one means
Machines doing things that would count as intelligence if a person did them — and the branch of computer science that builds them. John McCarthy coined the name in the 1955 proposal for a Dartmouth summer workshop, choosing it partly to keep the new field clear of cybernetics.
Full definition of Artificial Intelligence →The contrast above sets out how Machine learning differs from Artificial Intelligence on the points that actually matter.