Chapter 7. Fairly simple neural networks
When we hear about advances in artificial intelligence these days, in the late 2010s, they generally concern a particular subdiscipline known as machine learning (computers learning some new information without being explicitly told it). More often than not those advances are being driven by a particular machine-learning technique known as neural networks. Although invented decades ago, neural networks have been going through a kind of renaissance as improved hardware and newly discovered research-driven software techniques enable a new paradigm known as deep learning.
Deep learning has turned out to be a broadly applicable technique. It has been found useful in everything from hedge-fund algorithms to bioinformatics. Two deep-learning applications that consumers have become familiar with are image recognition and speech recognition. If you have ever asked your digital assistant what the weather is or had a photo program recognize your face, there was probably some deep learning going on.