Word of the Day: artificial neuron

Word of the Day Daily updates on the latest technology terms | June 27, 2019 artificial neuron An artificial neuron is a connection point in an artificial neural network. Artificial neural networks, like the human body's biological neural network, have a layered architecture and each network node (connection point) has the capability to process input and forward output to other nodes in the network. In both artificial and biological architectures, the nodes are called neurons and the connections are characterized by synaptic weights, which represent the significance of the connection. As new data is received and processed, the synaptic weights change and this is how machine learning occurs. Artificial neurons are modeled after the hierarchical arrangement of neurons in biological sensory systems. In the visual system, for example, light input passes through neurons in successive layers of the retina before being passed to neurons in the thalamus of the brain and then on to neurons in the brain's visual cortex. As the neurons pass signals through an increasing number of layers, the brain progressively extracts more information until it is confident it can identify what the person is seeing. In artificial intelligence, this fine tuning process is known as deep learning. In both artificial and biological networks, when neurons process the input they receive, they decide whether the output should be passed on to the next layer as input. The decision of whether or not to send information on is called bias and it's determined by an activation function built into the system. For example, an artificial neuron may only pass an output signal on to the next layer if its inputs (which are actually voltages) sum to a value above some particular threshold value. Because activation functions can either be linear or non-linear, neurons will often have a wide range of convergence and divergence. Divergence is the ability for one neuron to communicate with many other neurons in the network and convergence is the ability for one neuron to receive input from many other neurons in the network. Quote of the Day "One of the biggest challenges in improving the performance of AI models lies in tuning the parameters, or weights of the different artificial neurons used in the neural networks." - George Lawton Trending Terms artificial neural network deep learning convolutional neural network artificial ignorance Artificial Intelligence as a Service Learning Center AI's carbon footprint will be an issue for enterprises Often touted as the tech that will help us counteract global warming, AI uses a lot of energy. AI's carbon footprint for training certain AI models can exceed that of five cars. At some point, enterprises will need to factor this into their strategies. What is the role of machine learning in networking? Analytics tools that incorporate machine learning can detect irregular network behavior and direct management responses. Learn how machine learning in networking can benefit performance management, health management and security. How TensorFlow helps deep learning applications in the cloud Find out what Google's TensorFlow means for the future of building deep learning applications in the cloud. Expert George Lawton discusses. The brain-computer interface comes of age? Two startups make progress on developing a brain-computer interface for commercial use. Current state of AI is poorly understood by the public Discussions of the current state of AI technology mostly focus on killer robots and sentient software. Read this column to see why that's a big mistake. Quiz Yourself Some employees fear that computers will take over their jobs with the _______ of machine learning, but that is not the case. A. raise B. rise Answer Stay in Touch For feedback about any of our definitions or to suggest a new definition, please contact me at: mrouse@techtarget.com Visit the Word of the Day Archives and catch up on what you've missed! FOLLOW US About This E-Newsletter This e-newsletter is published by the TechTarget network. To unsubscribe from Whatis.com, click here. Please note, this will not affect any other subscriptions you have signed up for. TechTarget, Whatis, 275 Grove Street, Newton, MA 02466. Contact: webmaster@techtarget.com Copyright 2018 TechTarget. All rights reserved.