… Only about 10% of California’s rivers have stream gauges. Luckily, though, a few rivers both have gauges and are still essentially free flowing. Data from this handful of rivers can be used to predict the natural flows in altered streams had they been left untouched. But people crunch these numbers quite slowly. A type of artificial intelligence called machine learning can predict natural flows much faster―and more accurately. Machine learning sifts through reams of data to find patterns, letting computers solve problems based on experience much as people do.