Deep learning is a subset of machine learning where artificial neural networks are trained to learn and make decisions or predictions about a given dataset. The neural networks consist of three or more layers of interconnected artificial neurons - known as hidden layers. The more hidden layers the network has, the deeper the network, and the “deeper” the learning. (IBM, n.d.) This multi-layered structure mimics the learning process of the brain.

Deep learning differs from classical machine learning in the type of data that it works with and the methods in which it learns. In traditional machine learning algorithms, the feature extraction is often required to be performed by a domain expert. Whereas deep learning algorithms are able to learn these high-level features from data in an incremental manner and thus perform feature extraction automatically. (Nagdeve, 2020) As such, deep learning algorithms require less human intervention than classical machine learning algorithms. However, this also means that deep learning requires a lot more data than traditional machine learning algorithms to perform properly.

What is fastai?

fast.ai is a research group founded by Jeremy Howard and Rachel Thomas in 2016 and fastai is a free open-source library for deep learning, that is built on top of PyTorch, that was developed by the fast.ai team and v1.0 was released in 2018. fast.ai leverages a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) style to make deep learning accessible to all coders - no preqrequisite knowledge or specialisation in artificial intelligence, machine learning or deep learning is required to participate in the course; the only prerequisite required is the knowledge of the programming language Python. (Wikipedia, n.d.) The fast.ai course is all available online - with recorded online videos and Kaggle notebooks provided here and the accompanying book “Deep Learning for Coders with fastai and PyTorch” is also free available online here!

References:

IBM. (n.d.). Deep learning. Retrieved from https://www.ibm.com/topics/deep-learning

Levity AI. (n.d.). The Difference Between Machine Learning and Deep Learning. Retrieved from https://levity.ai/blog/difference-machine-learning-deep-learning

Microsoft. (n.d.). Deep Learning vs. Machine Learning - Azure Machine Learning. Retrieved from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/machine-learning/concept-deep-learning-vs-machine-learning?view=azureml-api-2

Nagdeve, M. (2020, June 15). Why Deep Learning is Needed Over Traditional Machine Learning. Towards Data Science. Retrieved from https://towardsdatascience.com/why-deep-learning-is-needed-over-traditional-machine-learning-1b6a99177063

Wikipedia. (2021, September 12). Fast.ai. In Wikipedia. Retrieved September 21, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast.ai