Introduction to Neural Networks

Neural networks power everything from ChatGPT to face recognition, but what actually happens inside one? In this workshop we open the black box and follow a real prediction through a real network, number by number: how a neuron multiplies and adds, why activation functions "bend the line," how the loss measures a mistake, and how backpropagation and gradient descent turn errors into learning. No AI or math background needed — if you can multiply and add, you can follow everything. We finish by reading a complete neural network written from scratch in C++, so you leave having seen every line of code behind the "magic."

Ouael Ben Amara

Facilitator · University of Michigan