Neural networks are computer programs which have a design inspired by, but distinct from, how our brains work.

They have proven over the past decade to be very good at learning from data. For example, show it ten million pictures of cat, dogs, and parrots, and let it guess randomly, and with the right learning algorithm it can become pretty good at telling them apart.

Today you will find neural networks in a growing number of products: from some search engines, to aspects of self driving cars, even in your phone in applications like camera filters and keyboards.

This pamphlet is a short collection of poems generated by a machine, a machine that has tried very hard to emulate the style of Ayrshire poet, Scotland’s National Bard Rabbie Burns.