Machine learning is automated classification, regression, and decision-making. Genetic algorithms don't tend to perform so well in these areas (just as ML is not so appropriate for combinatorial optimization).

Instead, genetic methods work well for various messy industrial engineering such as strip packaging design or antenna design. One of my favorite recent results solves a structural engineering problem using grammatical evolution [1].

[1] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0926580513...