Machine learning (ML) is defined by McKinsey as the gaggle of algorithms that learn from data without relying on rules-based programming and that have the endless patience and capacity to munch through vast quantities of data to find significance, insight and information. It’s also an opportunity estimated to be worth nearly $6 trillion, with IDC claiming the market to be worth around $500 billion by 2024. ML is making inroads into every industry and sector and changing them in ways that many people don’t realise.

One of the most unexpected ways is in spam filtering. Yes, all that intelligence and algorithmic wonder channelled into the mundane task of ensuring that spam is classified properly and that potentially risky emails are removed. Considering that the average person receives around 83.6 emails a day, according to EmailAnalytics, that’s a staggering sum of just over 30 000 emails a year. Global spam volumes accounted for 45.1% of email traffic as of March 2021, so ML that removes spam from the inbox is a welcome gift.