I can't speak for everyone in my field (chemical manufacture and catalyst development), but I wrote about some of what I think are the current coolest new developments in chemistry and materials science as it relates to machine learning. [1]
In summary, the use of machine learning can help us develop better representations of chemical reactions, catalyst behavior, and we can now use adaptive learning to create closed-loop systems to identify, carry out, and optimize chemical processes to reduce environmental impact, reduce energy usage, and decrease costs.
The state of the art isn't quite there, but I see no major conceptual barriers left -- just a matter of implementing it.
In summary, the use of machine learning can help us develop better representations of chemical reactions, catalyst behavior, and we can now use adaptive learning to create closed-loop systems to identify, carry out, and optimize chemical processes to reduce environmental impact, reduce energy usage, and decrease costs.
The state of the art isn't quite there, but I see no major conceptual barriers left -- just a matter of implementing it.
[1] http://www.brianneltner.com/machine-learning/