O’Reilly published a great mini-book by Patrick Hebron with machine learning basics and design examples. He also has a great vision about new design tools.

A great visual overview of machine learning basics by Stephanie Yee and Tony Chu.

A terrific article by Fabien Girardin. He shows how designers can work together with big data analysts to benefit from machine learning.

Jon Bruner gives a good example: A genetic algorithm starts with a fundamental description of the desired outcome — say, an airline’s timetable that is optimized for fuel savings and passenger convenience.