2012

AlexNet Wins ImageNet

A deep convolutional neural network called AlexNet crushes the ImageNet image recognition competition, cutting the error rate nearly in half. The secret ingredients: massive GPU computing, millions of labeled images, and dropout regularization. Overnight, the AI research community pivots from hand-crafted features to deep learning. This single result triggers the revolution — within three years, every major tech company restructures around neural networks. The deep learning era begins not with a paper, but with a benchmark score.