What Is AI, Really?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has received a lot of media coverage over the past few years. AI isn’t magic, and it’s not a robot plotting to take over the world. AI is technology that has the ability to “guess smartly” based on the data humans provide.

There are a few common types of AI:

• Machine Learning (ML) is a system that learns from data it's given and improves over time as it gets more data. Examples of machine learning include Netflix recommending shows based on your viewing history and Facebook showing you posts you might be interested in.
• Generative AI can create completely new content, such as text, images, audio, or video, based on patterns from data it's given. Examples include tools MidJourney that can create images and videos from a text prompt.
• Large Language Models (LLMs) are designed to understand, process, and generate in human language, designed specifically for writing, summarising, and translating. ChatGPT is an examples of a Large Language Model.

Think of generative AI as the entire field of "content creation," and a Large Language Models as a specialised tool within that field, focused specifically on "text creation”.