Accurate prediction of battery failure, both online and offline, facilitates design of safer battery systems through informed-engineering and on-line adaption to unfavorable scenarios. With the wide range of batteries available and frequently evolving pack designs, accurate prediction of cell behavior under different conditions is very challenging and extremely time consuming. In this issue of Joule, Li et al.1 used data from a previously reported finite-element model to train machine learning algorithms to predict whether a cell will undergo an internal short circuit when exposed to a selection of mechanical abuse conditions. The presented approach aims to alleviate, and yet is still limited by, a common challenge facing data-driven prediction methods: access to robust, plentiful, high-quality, and relevant experimental data.