Deep Learning: A New Core For Apple?

AI Advancements across various Apple products.

- Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan

Apple’s WWDC launch keynote this year was undoubtedly its most exciting in years, being packed to the rafters with announcements about both software updates and new hardware. We learned about not only the expected updates to iOS, macOS, and watchOS, but also the Siri-powered HomePod smart speaker and stunningly powerful new iPads. However, you might have overlooked the large extent to which all of these will be driven by the AI advancement known as deep learning.

HOW MACHINE LEARNING AND DEEP LEARNING WORK

Deep learning is a strand of machine learning, a term that was often bandied about during Apple’s two-and-a-half-hour presentation. Machine learning indicates a pivotal change in approaching artificial intelligence; it posits that, rather than pour data into machines in the effort to teach them everything, we should instead simply give them access to data before leaving them to learn for themselves. It gives machines a more human-like approach to learning that has made artificial intelligence’s development more efficient, says big data expert Bernard Marr for Forbes.

However, in a follow-up article for Forbes, Marr explains how deep learning has even further strengthened the beneficial effects of machine learning. With deep learning, abundant data is put into a computer system and through neural networks. These networks analyze the data before classifying it. That data could be in any form - such as text, speech, audio, or video - and used to arrive at conclusions akin to those reached by humans, albeit very, very quickly.