Well, one implication is quite obvious. Using ML-techniques you are sometimes able to solve a problem even if you don't have a precise idea of how you would do

Well, one implication is quite obvious. Using ML-techniques you are sometimes able to solve a problem even if you don't have a precise idea of how you would do it. I feel that's part of the point, really. [Edit: Elaboration] In ML, you effectively transform your problem from "What piece of code will solve my problem?" to "What piece of data-driven code might solve my problem, and how do I acquire the right set of data?". Also, some ML-algorithms are designed specifically to enable you to analyze their "reasoning" about the problem after they have been trained.