A recurrent neural network (RNN) is a type of artificial intelligence that is used to process and understand information in the same way that humans do. It works by taking in data, like a sentence or a picture, and then going through it in a loop so that it can understand the patterns found within it. The RNN goes through the data from beginning to end and remembers what it finds. This way, it can recognize the patterns it finds and decide what the data likely means and how it should respond. This is helpful in many ways, like helping to understand conversations, translating text, or writing creative stories.