What is one common use of web scraping?

One common use of web scraping is to collect training and testing datasets for machine learning models. Web scraping allows data scientists and analysts to automatically extract large amounts of data from websites that would otherwise require extensive manual collection. This method is particularly valuable when data is available online but not specifically provided in formats that are easily usable for analysis, such as CSV or structured databases.

In the context of building machine learning models, having access to diverse and vast amounts of data is crucial for training algorithms to recognize patterns and make predictions effectively. Scraping allows for the gathering of various types of data—such as product prices, customer reviews, or social media interactions—that can be critical for model development and evaluation. This practice enables the creation of robust datasets needed to train and test machine learning algorithms, leading to better performance and more accurate predictions.

Other options, while they represent valid data collection processes, do not exemplify the primary, widely recognized purpose of web scraping as effectively as the selected answer does.