Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning

Clustering

Definition

Clustering is a type of unsupervised machine learning task where the goal is to group a set of objects in such a way that objects in the same group (called a cluster) are more similar to each other than to those in other groups.

Why It Matters

Clustering is used to find natural groupings and structure in unlabeled data. It is useful for tasks like customer segmentation, document categorization, and anomaly detection.

Contextual Example

An e-commerce company uses clustering to group its customers into segments based on their purchasing habits. This allows them to create targeted marketing campaigns for each segment.

Common Misunderstandings

  • Clustering is the most common form of unsupervised learning.
  • k-Means is a popular and widely used clustering algorithm.

Related Terms

Last Updated: December 17, 2025