What is Deep Learning?
That’s the same question I had before I started looking more into it and realized that it is something that really interests me and applies to my everyday life more commonly than I had realized. In order to understand deep learning, we have to take a step back and relate it to Machine Learning and then take another step back and relate that to Artificial Intelligence. Artificial Intelligence is the most superficial level that people are familiar with and it is basically a way that a computer can mimic the behavioral and intelligence pattern of any living entity, typically humans. Now if we zoom in and take a look at Machine learning, which is a subset of AI, that is essentially a technique that computers use to learn from data without following a set of complex rules and is trained off of datasets. Finally, we zoom in a bit more to a subset of Machine Learning called Deep Learning, which is a technique that is used to perform Machine Learning based on how our neurons in the human brain work. [1]
Why is Deep Learning Useful?
From a first glance this stuff seems as if it’s super detailed and it’s intended audience is very niche; however, it is very applicable to many common things and I will explain why. One very common example would be things such as Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home. They both use deep learning in order to understand commands and questions given to them and respond properly. On top of all that, they end up suggesting ideas or thoughts afterwards based on previous interactions. A smaller feature that Google also does using Machine Learning is real time translation on videos. Facial recognition is available on most phones nowadays and that is a prime example of AI being applied in our everyday lives.
Have you ever wondered why you can spend hours on hours just laying in bed on social media? There can’t possibly be that much content on your feed that interests you, right? That’s where deep learning takes over, these big companies such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and many others end up using it to keep you on their platform longer. You may start off with the topic of basketball but three hours later you are learning about the ten biggest animals underneath the ocean. It’s all because the website ends up finding your interests and keeps recommending things to you and then creates a profile of you and ultimately starts to suggest things that you don’t evenknow you might be interested in. It is almost scary that a program at times knows more about what you as a human want than you yourself. [2]
Deep Learning Right Now
Now, if you are a bit more curious about deep learning and want to delve a bit deeper in, here are some projects that are currently going on. Tesla’s autopilot program and the newly announced Tesla Bot both heavily use deep learning and you can experience it firsthand in their cars and soon to be sold robots. Google also has a Google Brain team that specializes in deep learning and artificial intelligence, and have been working on that for quite a while. If you want a deeper look into what they use and what they have worked on, they did an AMA back in 2017: [3]
Final Fact:
The earliest recorded instance of serious deep learning was back in the mid-1960’s when Alexey Ivakhnenko and V.G. Lapa created very functional but small networks. [4]
Sources:
“Deep Learning.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Aug. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_learning.
“How Does the YOUTUBE Algorithm Work in 2021? The Complete Guide.” Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard, 21 June 2021, blog.hootsuite.com/how-the-youtube-algorithm-works/
“R/Machinelearning — We Are the Google Brain Team. We’d Love to Answer Your Questions (Again).” Reddit, www.reddit.com/r/MachineLearning/comments/6z51xb/we_are_the_google_brain_team_wed_lo ve_to_answer/.
Thomas, Mike. “The History of Deep Learning: Top Moments That Shaped the Technology.” Built In, builtin.com/artificial-intelligence/deep-learning-history.
- Aniket Mishra
