As the name is self-explanatory, machine learning refers to the phenomenon of machines being able to carry out programs without any human intervention. Though popularized extensively in the 21st century, it is not a recent phenomenon and has been worked upon since the 1940s. The term was coined by Arthur Samuel in 1952, during his efforts to design a computer program for playing checkers. He identified that repetitive playing of the game by the program increased the efficiency of the program to come up with moves for winning strategies. In similar ways, data is fed to the machine, and using the same data machines are trained using various algorithms to come up with models for personalized applications. In its most recent application, machine learning was used by researchers to use blood tests for the prediction of survival chances that a patient has upon contraction of the coronavirus.