Unveiling the Hidden Layers of Deep Learning

In a recent Scientific American article entitled "Springtime for AI: The Rise of Deep Learning," computer scientist Yoshua Bengio explains why complex neural networks are the key to true artificial intelligence as people have long envisioned it. It seems logical that the way to make computers as smart as humans is to program them to behave like human brains. However, given how little we know of how the brain functions, this task seems more than a little daunting. So how does deep learning work? This visualization by Jen Christiansen explains the basic structure and function of neural networks.