Technologies are described herein for active machine learning. An active machine learning method can include initiating active machine learning through an active machine learning system configured to train an auxiliary machine learning model to produce at least one new labeled observation, refining a capacity of a target machine learning model based on the active machine learning, and retraining the auxiliary machine learning model with the at least one new labeled observation subsequent to refining the capacity of the target machine learning model. Additionally, the target machine learning model is a limited-capacity machine learning model according to the description provided herein.