Mastering Machine Learning with R - Second Edition

Deep learning, a not-so-deep overview

So, what is this deep learning that is grabbing our attention and headlines? Let's turn to Wikipedia again for a working definition: Deep learning is a branch of machine learning based on a set of algorithms that attempt to model high-level abstractions in data by using model architectures, with complex structures or otherwise, composed of multiple nonlinear transformations. That sounds as if a lawyer wrote it. The characteristics of deep learning are that it is based on ANNs where the machine learning techniques, primarily unsupervised learning, are used to create new features from the input variables. We will dig into some unsupervised learning techniques in the next couple of chapters, but one can ...