Machine Learning uses math to predict an output given an input. The simplest way to understand basic ML models is through prediction: given what I already know, what’s going to happen in a new, unknown situation?
This is pretty much how your brain works. Imagine you’ve got a friend who is constantly late. You’ve got a party coming up, so your expectation is that he’s going to, shocker, be late again. You don’t know that for sure, but given that he has always been late, you figure there’s a good chance he will be this time. And if he shows up on time, you’re surprised, and you keep that new information in the back of your head; maybe next time you’ll adjust your expectations on the chance of him being late.