AI or Artificial Intelligence has been making headlines the world over the past few months. It’s time we all learn a little about how AI began and what role neural networks plays.
Artificial intelligence, also sometimes referred to as machine intelligence (MI), is a burgeoning field of Computer Science which has ties to many, many other fields. AI is the application of neural networks in various forms to allow a machine to imitate or give the impression of natural cognition. This is quite a feat since it is not only a field which brings about great opportunity, but it is also a field which brings about great moral and ethical dilemmas, the least of which is the application of Rene Descartes’ “Cogito ergo sum” reasoning. The underpinning of AI however, is a set of mathematical beginnings that start with the humble neural network. I am not well educated on the ins-and-outs of neural network methodologies and the math behind it, but I have found the following videos from 3Blue1Brown incredibly helpful for boosting my understanding of the basics of neural networks.
Also check out the Tiny Neural Network library on GitHub from glouw. It’s a 200-line dependency free neural network that is easy enough to understand and play with on your own.
Thanks for reading!
