Neural Network
A computing system made of simple connected units called neurons, arranged in layers, that learns patterns by adjusting the strength of those connections.
A neural network is the foundation of modern AI. It’s loosely inspired by the brain: many simple units (“neurons”) are connected in layers, and information flows from an input layer, through hidden layers, to an output layer.
Each connection has a weight — a number controlling how much one neuron influences the next. The network learns by adjusting these weights to reduce its errors, a process repeated across huge numbers of examples until predictions become reliable.
Networks with many hidden layers are called deep neural networks, and they power deep learning. A specialised design called the transformer underlies today’s large language models. For a beginner-friendly walkthrough, see our guide to neural networks.