Deep learning is a type of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) that imitates the way humans gain certain types of knowledge. Deep learning is an important element of data science, which includes statistics and predictive modeling. It is extremely beneficial to data scientists who are tasked with collecting, analyzing and interpreting large amounts of data; deep learning makes this process faster and easier.
At its simplest, deep learning can be thought of as a way to automate predictive analytics. While traditional machine learning algorithms are linear, deep learning algorithms are stacked in a hierarchy of increasing complexity and abstraction.