ML is just applied statistics. Which many might argue is just applied mathematics.
ML might appear to be AI to those who aren’t aware of what is going on, and it certainly can be used as part of a system to make it appear more human like, but we are a long way away from a true general AI I think. If you can’t ask the system to explain its reasoning, in human terms, then it’s ML and not AI.
You can learn to do ML yourself, from a free course: