deep learning

noun

computing

: a form of machine learning in which the computer network rapidly teaches itself to understand a concept without human intervention by performing a large number of iterative calculations on an extremely large dataset

Deep learning involves feeding machines lots of data so the AI can learn patterns itself without requiring humans to program knowledge into the machine.

—Mike Cherney

In deep learning, multiple neural networks are "stacked" on top of each other, or layered, in order to create models that are even better at prediction because each new layer learns from the ones before it.

—Derrick Harris

—sometimes used before another noun

The purpose of many deep learning systems is to minimize the amount of time spent feeding or quizzing a piece of software …

—Erik Sofge

Examples of deep learning in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The 60-person startup began gaining recognition around 2021 after its PyTorch Lightning deep learning framework rose to prominence in the research community. —Rachyl Jones, semafor.com, 19 Aug. 2025

But once deep learning and transformers took over, scale changed the game. —Yi Shi, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025

While the fundamentals of programming are still taught, new curricula around the fundamentals of AI (e.g., data enrichment, dimensionality, deep neural networks, deep learning, self-learning) are being created. —Evan J. Schwartz, Forbes.com, 6 Aug. 2025

Common algorithmic functions like Monte-Carlo sampling, which are widely used in AI as well as general computing, can be vastly accelerated with quantum computers, as can the linear algebra powering deep learning routines. —Bernard Marr, Forbes.com, 23 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1986, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for deep learning

• adjourning
• concerning
• discerning
• returning
• burning
• churning
• earning
• spurning
• turning
• yearning
• overturning