Core concept

Artificial intelligence

Software that learns to do a task from examples, instead of following step-by-step rules a person wrote by hand.

AI contains machine learning, which contains generative AI Three nested ellipses: artificial intelligence on the outside, machine learning inside it, and generative AI at the centre. Artificial intelligence Machine learning Generative AI

Artificial intelligence is the broad umbrella term. It covers everything from the spam filter in your inbox to the chatbot that drafts your emails. What unites them is the approach: instead of a programmer writing out every rule, the system learns patterns from large amounts of data and uses them to handle new cases.

In everyday use, "AI" usually means the helpful, narrow kind that is good at one job. It is not the all-knowing machine of the movies, and knowing that difference helps you judge what it can and cannot do.

Often confused with: Machine learning and generative AI. AI is the whole field; both of those sit inside it, not beside it.

See it in a lesson: What is AI?

Further reading

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