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A Beginner's Guide to Neural

Networks and Deep Learning
Contents

Neural Network Definition

A Few Concrete Examples
Neural Network Elements
Key Concepts of Deep Neural Networks
Example: Feedforward Networks & Backprop
Multiple Linear Regression
Updaters
Custom Layers, activation functions and loss functions
Logistic Regression & Classifiers
Loss Functions in DeepLearning4J
Neural Networks & Artificial Intelligence

Neural Network Definition

Neural networks are a set of algorithms, modeled loosely after the human brain,
that are designed to recognize patterns. They interpret sensory data through a
kind of machine perception, labeling or clustering raw input. The patterns they
recognize are numerical, contained in vectors, into which all real-world data, be it
images, sound, text or time series, must be translated.

Neural networks help us cluster and classify. You can think of them as a clustering
and classification layer on top of the data you store and manage. They help to
group unlabeled data according to similarities among the example inputs, and they
classify data when they have a labeled dataset to train on. (Neural networks can
also extract features that are fed to other algorithms for clustering and
classification; so you can think of deep neural networks as components of larger
machine-learning applications involving algorithms for reinforcement learning,
classification and regression.)
What kind of problems does deep learning solve, and more importantly, can it
solve yours? To know the answer, you need to ask questions:

What outcomes do I care about? Those outcomes are labels that could be
applied to data: for example, spam or not_spam in an email filter, good_guy or
bad_guy in fraud detection, angry_customer or happy_customer in customer

relationship management.

Do I have the data to accompany those labels? That is, can I find labeled
data, or can I create a labeled dataset (with a service like AWS Mechanical
Turk or Figure Eight or Mighty.ai) where spam has been labeled as spam, in
order to teach an algorithm the correlation between labels and inputs?

Learn to build AI apps now »

A Few Concrete Examples

Deep learning maps inputs to outputs. It finds correlations. It is known as a
“universal approximator”, because it can learn to approximate an unknown
function f(x) = y between any input x and any output y, assuming they are
related at all (by correlation or causation, for example). In the process of learning,
a neural network finds the right f, or the correct manner of transforming x into y,
whether that be f(x) = 3x + 12 or f(x) = 9x - 0.1. Here are a few examples of
what deep learning can do.

Classification
All classification tasks depend upon labeled datasets; that is, humans must
transfer their knowledge to the dataset in order for a neural network to learn the
correlation between labels and data. This is known as supervised learning.

Detect faces, identify people in images, recognize facial expressions (angry,

joyful)
Identify objects in images (stop signs, pedestrians, lane markers…)
Recognize gestures in video
Detect voices, identify speakers, transcribe speech to text, recognize
sentiment in voices
Classify text as spam (in emails), or fraudulent (in insurance claims);
recognize sentiment in text (customer feedback)

Any labels that humans can generate, any outcomes that you care about and
which correlate to data, can be used to train a neural network.

Clustering
Clustering or grouping is the detection of similarities. Deep learning does not
require labels to detect similarities. Learning without labels is called unsupervised
learning. Unlabeled data is the majority of data in the world. One law of machine
learning is: the more data an algorithm can train on, the more accurate it will be.
Therefore, unsupervised learning has the potential to produce highly accurate
models.

Search: Comparing documents, images or sounds to surface similar items.

Anomaly detection: The flipside of detecting similarities is detecting
anomalies, or unusual behavior. In many cases, unusual behavior correlates
highly with things you want to detect and prevent, such as fraud.

Predictive Analytics: Regressions

With classification, deep learning is able to establish correlations between, say,
pixels in an image and the name of a person. You might call this a static
prediction. By the same token, exposed to enough of the right data, deep learning
is able to establish correlations between present events and future events. It can
run regression between the past and the future. The future event is like the label
in a sense. Deep learning doesn’t necessarily care about time, or the fact that
something hasn’t happened yet. Given a time series, deep learning may read a
string of number and predict the number most likely to occur next.

Hardware breakdowns (data centers, manufacturing, transport)

Health breakdowns (strokes, heart attacks based on vital stats and data from
wearables)
Customer churn (predicting the likelihood that a customer will leave, based
on web activity and metadata)
Employee turnover (ditto, but for employees)

The better we can predict, the better we can prevent and pre-empt. As you can
see, with neural networks, we’re moving towards a world of fewer surprises. Not
zero surprises, just marginally fewer. We’re also moving toward a world of smarter
agents that combine neural networks with other algorithms like reinforcement
learning to attain goals.

With that brief overview of deep learning use cases, let’s look at what neural nets
are made of.

Neural Network Elements

Deep learning is the name we use for “stacked neural networks”; that is, networks
composed of several layers.

Are you using Machine Learning for enterprise applications? The Skymind Platform
can help you ship faster. Read the platform overview or request a demo.

The layers are made of nodes. A node is just a place where computation happens,
loosely patterned on a neuron in the human brain, which fires when it encounters
sufficient stimuli. A node combines input from the data with a set of coefficients,
or weights, that either amplify or dampen that input, thereby assigning
significance to inputs with regard to the task the algorithm is trying to learn; e.g.
which input is most helpful is classifying data without error? These input-weight
products are summed and then the sum is passed through a node’s so-called
activation function, to determine whether and to what extent that signal should
progress further through the network to affect the ultimate outcome, say, an act
of classification. If the signals passes through, the neuron has been “activated.”

Here’s a diagram of what one node might look like.

A node layer is a row of those neuron-like switches that turn on or off as the input
is fed through the net. Each layer’s output is simultaneously the subsequent
layer’s input, starting from an initial input layer receiving your data.

Pairing the model’s adjustable weights with input features is how we assign
significance to those features with regard to how the neural network classifies and
clusters input.

Key Concepts of Deep Neural Networks

Deep-learning networks are distinguished from the more commonplace single-
hidden-layer neural networks by their depth; that is, the number of node layers
through which data must pass in a multistep process of pattern recognition.

Earlier versions of neural networks such as the first perceptrons were shallow,
composed of one input and one output layer, and at most one hidden layer in
between. More than three layers (including input and output) qualifies as “deep”
learning. So deep is not just a buzzword to make algorithms seem like they read
Sartre and listen to bands you haven’t heard of yet. It is a strictly defined term
that means more than one hidden layer.

In deep-learning networks, each layer of nodes trains on a distinct set of features

based on the previous layer’s output. The further you advance into the neural net,
the more complex the features your nodes can recognize, since they aggregate
and recombine features from the previous layer.
This is known as feature hierarchy, and it is a hierarchy of increasing complexity
and abstraction. It makes deep-learning networks capable of handling very large,
high-dimensional data sets with billions of parameters that pass through
nonlinear functions.

Above all, these neural nets are capable of discovering latent structures within
unlabeled, unstructured data, which is the vast majority of data in the world.
Another word for unstructured data is raw media; i.e. pictures, texts, video and
audio recordings. Therefore, one of the problems deep learning solves best is in
processing and clustering the world’s raw, unlabeled media, discerning similarities
and anomalies in data that no human has organized in a relational database or
ever put a name to.

For example, deep learning can take a million images, and cluster them according
to their similarities: cats in one corner, ice breakers in another, and in a third all
the photos of your grandmother. This is the basis of so-called smart photo
albums.

Now apply that same idea to other data types: Deep learning might cluster raw
text such as emails or news articles. Emails full of angry complaints might cluster
in one corner of the vector space, while satisfied customers, or spambot
messages, might cluster in others. This is the basis of various messaging filters,
and can be used in customer-relationship management (CRM). The same applies
to voice messages.

With time series, data might cluster around normal/healthy behavior and
anomalous/dangerous behavior. If the time series data is being generated by a
smart phone, it will provide insight into users’ health and habits; if it is being
generated by an autopart, it might be used to prevent catastrophic breakdowns.

Deep-learning networks perform automatic feature extraction without human

intervention, unlike most traditional machine-learning algorithms. Given that
feature extraction is a task that can take teams of data scientists years to
accomplish, deep learning is a way to circumvent the chokepoint of limited
experts. It augments the powers of small data science teams, which by their
nature do not scale.
When training on unlabeled data, each node layer in a deep network learns
features automatically by repeatedly trying to reconstruct the input from which it
draws its samples, attempting to minimize the difference between the network’s
guesses and the probability distribution of the input data itself. Restricted
Boltzmann machines, for examples, create so-called reconstructions in this
manner.

In the process, these neural networks learn to recognize correlations between

certain relevant features and optimal results – they draw connections between
feature signals and what those features represent, whether it be a full
reconstruction, or with labeled data.

A deep-learning network trained on labeled data can then be applied to

unstructured data, giving it access to much more input than machine-learning
nets. This is a recipe for higher performance: the more data a net can train on, the
more accurate it is likely to be. (Bad algorithms trained on lots of data can
outperform good algorithms trained on very little.) Deep learning’s ability to
process and learn from huge quantities of unlabeled data give it a distinct
advantage over previous algorithms.

Deep-learning networks end in an output layer: a logistic, or softmax, classifier

that assigns a likelihood to a particular outcome or label. We call that predictive,
but it is predictive in a broad sense. Given raw data in the form of an image, a
deep-learning network may decide, for example, that the input data is 90 percent
likely to represent a person.

Example: Feedforward Networks

Our goal in using a neural net is to arrive at the point of least error as fast as
possible. We are running a race, and the race is around a track, so we pass the
same points repeatedly in a loop. The starting line for the race is the state in
which our weights are initialized, and the finish line is the state of those
parameters when they are capable of producing sufficiently accurate
classifications and predictions.

The race itself involves many steps, and each of those steps resembles the steps
before and after. Just like a runner, we will engage in a repetitive act over and
over to arrive at the finish. Each step for a neural network involves a guess, an
error measurement and a slight update in its weights, an incremental adjustment
to the coefficients, as it slowly learns to pay attention to the most important
features.

A collection of weights, whether they are in their start or end state, is also called
a model, because it is an attempt to model data’s relationship to ground-truth
labels, to grasp the data’s structure. Models normally start out bad and end up
less bad, changing over time as the neural network updates its parameters.

This is because a neural network is born in ignorance. It does not know which
weights and biases will translate the input best to make the correct guesses. It
has to start out with a guess, and then try to make better guesses sequentially as
it learns from its mistakes. (You can think of a neural network as a miniature
enactment of the scientific method, testing hypotheses and trying again – only it
is the scientific method with a blindfold on. Or like a child: they are born not
knowing much, and through exposure to life experience, they slowly learn to solve
problems in the world. For neural networks, data is the only experience.)

Here is a simple explanation of what happens during learning with a feedforward

neural network, the simplest architecture to explain.

Input enters the network. The coefficients, or weights, map that input to a set of
guesses the network makes at the end.

input * weight = guess

Weighted input results in a guess about what that input is. The neural then takes
its guess and compares it to a ground-truth about the data, effectively asking an
expert “Did I get this right?”

ground truth - guess = error

The difference between the network’s guess and the ground truth is its error. The
network measures that error, and walks the error back over its model, adjusting
weights to the extent that they contributed to the error.

error * weight's contribution to error = adjustment

The three pseudo-mathematical formulas above account for the three key
functions of neural networks: scoring input, calculating loss and applying an
update to the model – to begin the three-step process over again. A neural
network is a corrective feedback loop, rewarding weights that support its correct
guesses, and punishing weights that lead it to err.

Let’s linger on the first step above.

Multiple Linear Regression

Despite their biologically inspired name, artificial neural networks are nothing
more than math and code, like any other machine-learning algorithm. In fact,
anyone who understands linear regression, one of first methods you learn in
statistics, can understand how a neural net works. In its simplest form, linear
regression is expressed as

Y_hat = bX + a

where Y_hat is the estimated output, X is the input, b is the slope and a is the
intercept of a line on the vertical axis of a two-dimensional graph. (To make this
more concrete: X could be radiation exposure and Y could be the cancer risk; X
could be daily pushups and Y_hat could be the total weight you can benchpress; X
the amount of fertilizer and Y_hat the size of the crop.) You can imagine that every
time you add a unit to X, the dependent variable Y_hat increases proportionally, no
matter how far along you are on the X axis. That simple relation between two
variables moving up or down together is a starting point.
The next step is to imagine multiple linear regression, where you have many input
variables producing an output variable. It’s typically expressed like this:

Y_hat = b_1*X_1 + b_2*X_2 + b_3*X_3 + a

(To extend the crop example above, you might add the amount of sunlight and
rainfall in a growing season to the fertilizer variable, with all three affecting Y_hat.)

Now, that form of multiple linear regression is happening at every node of a neural
network. For each node of a single layer, input from each node of the previous
layer is recombined with input from every other node. That is, the inputs are
mixed in different proportions, according to their coefficients, which are different
leading into each node of the subsequent layer. In this way, a net tests which
combination of input is significant as it tries to reduce error.

Once you sum your node inputs to arrive at Y_hat, it’s passed through a non-linear
function. Here’s why: If every node merely performed multiple linear regression,
Y_hat would increase linearly and without limit as the X’s increase, but that

doesn’t suit our purposes.

What we are trying to build at each node is a switch (like a neuron…) that turns on
and off, depending on whether or not it should let the signal of the input pass
through to affect the ultimate decisions of the network.

When you have a switch, you have a classification problem. Does the input’s signal
indicate the node should classify it as enough, or not_enough, on or off? A binary
decision can be expressed by 1 and 0, and logistic regression is a non-linear
function that squashes input to translate it to a space between 0 and 1.

The nonlinear transforms at each node are usually s-shaped functions similar to
logistic regression. They go by the names of sigmoid (the Greek word for “S”),
tanh, hard tanh, etc., and they shaping the output of each node. The output of all
nodes, each squashed into an s-shaped space between 0 and 1, is then passed as
input to the next layer in a feed forward neural network, and so on until the signal
reaches the final layer of the net, where decisions are made.

Gradient Descent
The name for one commonly used optimization function that adjusts weights
according to the error they caused is called “gradient descent.”

Gradient is another word for slope, and slope, in its typical form on an x-y graph,
represents how two variables relate to each other: rise over run, the change in
money over the change in time, etc. In this particular case, the slope we care
about describes the relationship between the network’s error and a single weight;
i.e. that is, how does the error vary as the weight is adjusted.

To put a finer point on it, which weight will produce the least error? Which one
correctly represents the signals contained in the input data, and translates them
to a correct classification? Which one can hear “nose” in an input image, and
know that should be labeled as a face and not a frying pan?
As a neural network learns, it slowly adjusts many weights so that they can map
signal to meaning correctly. The relationship between network Error and each of
those weights is a derivative, dE/dw, that measures the degree to which a slight
change in a weight causes a slight change in the error.

Each weight is just one factor in a deep network that involves many transforms;
the signal of the weight passes through activations and sums over several layers,
so we use the chain rule of calculus to march back through the networks
activations and outputs and finally arrive at the weight in question, and its
relationship to overall error.

The chain rule in calculus states that

In a feedforward network, the relationship between the net’s error and a single
weight will look something like this:

That is, given two variables, Error and weight, that are mediated by a third
variable, activation, through which the weight is passed, you can calculate how a
change in weight affects a change in Error by first calculating how a change in
activation affects a change in Error, and how a change in weight affects a change
in activation.

The essence of learning in deep learning is nothing more than that: adjusting a
model’s weights in response to the error it produces, until you can’t reduce the
error any more.

Optimization Algorithms
Some examples of optimization algorithms include:

ADADELTA
ADAGRAD
ADAM
NESTEROVS
NONE
RMSPROP
SGD
CONJUGATE GRADIENT
HESSIAN FREE
LBFGS
LINE GRADIENT DESCENT

Activation Functions
The activation function determines the output a node will generate, based upon its
input. In Deeplearning4j, the activation function is set at the layer level and
applies to all neurons in that layer.

Some examples include:

CUBE
ELU
HARDSIGMOID
HARDTANH
IDENTITY
LEAKYRELU
RATIONALTANH
RELU
RRELU
SIGMOID
SOFTMAX
SOFTPLUS
SOFTSIGN
TANH

Custom layers, activation functions and loss

functions
Deeplearning4j, one of the major AI frameworks Skymind supports alongside
Keras, includes custom layers, activations and loss functions.

Logistic Regression
On a deep neural network of many layers, the final layer has a particular role.
When dealing with labeled input, the output layer classifies each example,
applying the most likely label. Each node on the output layer represents one label,
and that node turns on or off according to the strength of the signal it receives
from the previous layer’s input and parameters.

Each output node produces two possible outcomes, the binary output values 0 or
1, because an input variable either deserves a label or it does not . After all, there is
no such thing as a little pregnant.

While neural networks working with labeled data produce binary output, the input
they receive is often continuous. That is, the signals that the network receives as
input will span a range of values and include any number of metrics, depending on
the problem it seeks to solve.

For example, a recommendation engine has to make a binary decision about

whether to serve an ad or not. But the input it bases its decision on could include
how much a customer has spent on Amazon in the last week, or how often that
customer visits the site.

So the output layer has to condense signals such as $67.59 spent on diapers, and
15 visits to a website, into a range between 0 and 1; i.e. a probability that a given
input should be labeled or not.
The mechanism we use to convert continuous signals into binary output is called
logistic regression. The name is unfortunate, since logistic regression is used for
classification rather than regression in the linear sense that most people are
familiar with. It calculates the probability that a set of inputs match the label.

Let’s examine this little formula.

For continuous inputs to be expressed as probabilities, they must output positive

results, since there is no such thing as a negative probability. That’s why you see
input as the exponent of e in the denominator – because exponents force our
results to be greater than zero. Now consider the relationship of e’s exponent to
the fraction 1/1. One, as we know, is the ceiling of a probability, beyond which our
results can’t go without being absurd. (We’re 120% sure of that.)

As the input x that triggers a label grows, the expression e to the x shrinks toward
zero, leaving us with the fraction 1/1, or 100%, which means we approach (without
ever quite reaching) absolute certainty that the label applies. Input that correlates
negatively with your output will have its value flipped by the negative sign on e’s
exponent, and as that negative signal grows, the quantity e to the x becomes
larger, pushing the entire fraction ever closer to zero.

Now imagine that, rather than having x as the exponent, you have the sum of the
products of all the weights and their corresponding inputs – the total signal
passing through your net. That’s what you’re feeding into the logistic regression
layer at the output layer of a neural network classifier.

With this layer, we can set a decision threshold above which an example is labeled
1, and below which it is not. You can set different thresholds as you prefer – a low
threshold will increase the number of false positives, and a higher one will
increase the number of false negatives – depending on which side you would like
to err.

Loss Functions in DeepLearning4j

DeepLearning4j supports the following loss functions.

MSE: Mean Squared Error: Linear Regression

EXPLL: Exponential log likelihood: Poisson Regression
XENT: Cross Entropy: Binary Classification
MCXENT: Multiclass Cross Entropy
RMSE_XENT: RMSE Cross Entropy
SQUARED_LOSS: Squared Loss
NEGATIVELOGLIKELIHOOD: Negative Log Likelihood

Neural Networks & Artificial Intelligence

In some circles, neural networks are thought of as “brute force” AI, because they
start with a blank slate and hammer their way through to an accurate model. They
are effective, but to some eyes inefficient in their approach to modeling, which
can’t make assumptions about functional dependencies between output and input.

That said, gradient descent is not recombining every weight with every other to
find the best match – its method of pathfinding shrinks the relevant weight space,
and therefore the number of updates and required computation, by many orders
of magnitude. Moreover, algorithms such as Hinton’s capsule networks require far
fewer instances of data to converge on an accurate model; that is, present
research has the potential to resolve the brute force nature of deep learning.

Further Reading
A Recipe for Training Neural Networks, by Andrej Karpathy

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