Artificial Intelligence

What is Deep Learning?

Quick answer

A branch of machine learning that uses neural networks with many layers to learn patterns from large amounts of data.

Deep Learning, explained

The deep in deep learning refers to the number of layers in a neural network. Each layer transforms its input into a slightly more abstract representation. In an image model, early layers might detect edges, middle layers shapes, and later layers whole objects like faces or cars.

Deep learning took off in the early 2010s when large labeled datasets, faster GPUs, and better training techniques came together. It now underpins speech recognition, machine translation, computer vision, recommendation systems, and large language models. Deep learning models usually need substantial data and computing power, and their internal reasoning can be hard to interpret, which is why explainability remains an active research area.

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