What is Deep Learning ?

Introduction

• Date or Period of Introduction: Deep Learning became widely known in the 2010s but has roots in the 1940s with the development of neural networks.

• Inventor: No single person invented Deep Learning, but pioneers include Geoffrey Hinton, Yann LeCun, and Yoshua Bengio.

• Reference: For a deeper dive, check out this book: Deep Learning by Ian Goodfellow, Yoshua Bengio, and Aaron Courville. (URL: https://www.deeplearningbook.org/)

What Is Deep Learning?

Deep Learning is a way for computers to "learn" patterns from data, much like how humans recognize things through experience. It uses a special kind of math model called neural networks. Think of a neural network as a giant web of interconnected "mini-brains" (neurons). These neurons pass information to each other, adjusting themselves slightly every time they see data, like photos, text, or sounds.

Imagine teaching a robot to recognize cats. You show it thousands of cat pictures, and the neural network learns what makes a cat a cat by focusing on patterns (like pointy ears or whiskers). Over time, it becomes so good that it can recognize cats it has never seen before.

Why is it important?

Deep Learning solved a huge problem: How can computers understand and process large amounts of complex data like images, videos, or human speech? Before Deep Learning, AI systems often failed at these tasks because they couldn’t handle the "messy" nature of real-world data.

For example, without Deep Learning, voice assistants like Siri or Google Assistant wouldn’t be able to understand your words, and photo apps couldn’t automatically recognize faces or objects.

What has it changed?

Deep Learning has transformed how we use AI.

• In Vision: It powers technologies like self-driving cars, facial recognition, and medical imaging.

• In Language: It helps machines understand and translate languages, making tools like Google Translate work better.

• In Creativity: It enables machines to create art, music, or even write stories, like ChatGPT does.

Deep Learning made AI much smarter and more practical, leading to breakthroughs in almost every field.