Imagine a child visiting a farm and seeing sheep and goats for the first time. Their parent points out which is what, helping the child learn to distinguish between the two. But what happens when the child would not have that guidance on a returning visit? Will they still be able to tell them apart? Neuroscientist Franziska Bröker is studying how both humans and machines learn without supervision — like a child on their own — and has uncovered a puzzle: unsupervised learning can either help or hinder progress, depending on certain conditions.
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