An artificial neuron is a mathematical function conceived as a model of a biological neuron in a neural network. The artificial neuron is the elementary unit of an artificial neural network.
The design of the artificial neuron was inspired by biological neural circuitry. Its inputs are analogous to excitatory postsynaptic potentials and inhibitory postsynaptic potentials at neural dendrites, or activation. Its weights are analogous to synaptic weights, and its output is analogous to a neuron's action potential which is transmitted along its axon.