Core concepts
AI
Artificial Intelligence — software that performs tasks normally requiring human intelligence, like understanding language, recognising images, or generating content.
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In plain English
Artificial Intelligence is a broad term for software that mimics aspects of human reasoning. It's not one technique — it's an umbrella covering everything from spam filters and recommendation engines to ChatGPT and self-driving cars.
Common types of AI:
- Machine learning — systems that learn patterns from data
- Deep learning — neural networks with many layers; the foundation of modern AI
- Generative AI — produces new text, images, audio, or video
- Computer vision — interprets images and video
- Natural language processing — understands and generates human language
What AI is not: Today's AI is not conscious, sentient, or generally intelligent. It's pattern recognition at enormous scale — incredibly useful for narrow tasks, but very different from human thought.
Most "AI tools" you see today are powered by large language models or diffusion models.
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Related terms
Machine Learning
A type of AI where systems learn patterns from data rather than being explicitly programmed with rules.
Deep Learning
A type of machine learning that uses layered neural networks to learn complex patterns — the foundation of modern AI.
Generative AI
AI systems that create new content — text, images, audio, video, or code — rather than just classifying or predicting from existing data.
LLM
Large Language Model — the type of AI behind tools like ChatGPT and Claude, trained to understand and generate text.
AGI
Artificial General Intelligence — a hypothetical AI that matches or exceeds human ability across virtually any intellectual task.
Back to glossaryLast reviewed May 2026