As someone who teaches new and budding ML "experts", your comments ring true about my students. The broad temptation is to apply ML without understanding. In our program, the math is difficult, the program is about understanding ML and what it means, and yet the students are inexorably driven to apply techniques without understanding, and it's an uphill battle. This includes students all the way to the Ph.D. level.
As someone who teaches new and budding ML "experts", your comments ring true about my students. The broad temptation is to apply ML without understanding. In our program, the math is difficult, the program is about understanding ML and what it means, and yet the students are inexorably driven to apply techniques without understanding, and it's an uphill battle. This includes students all the way to the Ph.D. level.