Yang-Hui He, a mathematical physicist at the University of London, is an expert in string theory, one of the most abstruse areas of physics. But when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, he was naïve.

AI used to be the specialized domain of data scientists and computer programmers. But companies such as Wolfram Research, which makes Mathematica, are trying to democratize the field, so scientists without AI skills can harness the technology for recognizing patterns in big data. In some cases, they don’t need to code at all. Insights are just a drag-and-drop away.

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