Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning: What's the Difference?
Deep learning is a type of machine learning — the relationship is nested, not opposed. Machine learning is the broad field of algorithms that learn patterns from data instead of being explicitly programmed. Deep learning is a specialized subset that uses neural networks with many layers, which excel at messy, high-dimensional data like images, audio, and language. So all deep learning is machine learning, but plenty of machine learning (decision trees, linear regression) isn't deep learning.
See the difference, explained visually.
Watch a 2-minute animated lesson comparing machine learning and deep learning.
At a glance
| Machine Learning | Deep Learning | |
|---|---|---|
| Relationship | The broad field | A subset of machine learning |
| How it works | Many algorithm types learn from data | Many-layered neural networks |
| Data needed | Works with smaller datasets | Usually needs large datasets |
| Features | Often hand-crafted by humans | Learned automatically by the network |
| Best at | Tabular data, simpler patterns | Images, audio, language |
Which should you use?
Machine Learning
Use plain machine learning for structured/tabular data, smaller datasets, or when you need a fast, explainable model.
Deep Learning
Deep learning shines on large, complex, unstructured data — photos, speech, text — where it can learn the features on its own.
Frequently asked questions
- Is deep learning the same as machine learning?
- No — deep learning is a subset of machine learning. It specifically uses deep (many-layered) neural networks, while machine learning includes many other methods too.
- Is deep learning always better?
- No. Deep learning needs lots of data and compute and is harder to interpret. For smaller or tabular datasets, simpler machine-learning models are often faster, cheaper, and just as accurate.
- How do they relate to AI?
- Artificial intelligence is the broadest field; machine learning is a subset of AI; and deep learning is a subset of machine learning — three nested circles.