What is Recurrent neural networks (RNNs)?

A recurrent neural network is like having a friend who never forgets what you just said, they remember it and use it to understand what comes next.

Imagine you're reading a story one word at a time, and your friend listens to each word and says, “Okay, so the last word was dog, that means the next part might be about running or barking!” This helps them guess what’s coming up. That’s how RNNs work, they remember previous information and use it to help understand new parts of a sequence.

Think of an RNN as a storyteller who keeps track of the story so far. When you tell them a sentence one word at a time, they remember each word and use that memory to understand the whole sentence, or even the whole paragraph!

If you say “The cat is sleeping,” your friend knows it’s about a quiet moment. But if you say “The cat is running,” they know it’s more exciting. That memory helps them figure out what comes next in the story.

This remembering ability makes RNNs super useful for tasks like writing stories, translating languages, or even predicting what a person might say next, just like your friend who never forgets a word!