Chapter 8. Artificial Neural Network Algorithms

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) or, simply NNs, are arguably the most popular machine learning (ML) tool today, if not necessarily the most widely used. The tech media and commentary of the day love to focus on neural networks, and they are seen by many as the magical algorithm. It is believed that neural networks will pave the way to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)—but the technical reality is much different.

While they are powerful, neural networks are highly specialized ML models that focus on solving individual tasks or problems—they are not magical brains that can solve problems out of the box. A model that exhibits 90% accuracy is typically considered good. Neural networks are slow to train and require thoughtful design and implementation. That said, they are indeed highly proficient problem solvers that can unravel even very difficult problems, such as object identification in images.

It is likely that neural networks will play...