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

Across different types of treatments and cancer, deep learning models captured high and low order relationships. — Esha Desai, Hartford Courant, 4 Oct. 2026

Yann LeCun won the 2018 Turing Award—computer science’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize—along with fellow AI researchers Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio for their work on deep learning, the neural network technology that underpins today’s AI boom. — Emily Forlini, Fortune, 1 Oct. 2026

Ramsey Cardy | Sportsfile | Getty Images Geoffrey Hinton, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, is considered a pioneer of neural networks and deep learning. — Kai Nicol-Schwarz, CNBC, 15 Sep. 2026

Last month, however, the vice president of deep learning at Nvidia highlighted the opposite, stating that the cost of compute far exceeds that of employees. — Imran Aftab, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2026

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