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A to Z

Glossary

The AI words you keep hearing, each explained in a sentence or two.

Model names and prices · AI explained

A

AI agentAn AI agent is software that can take a series of steps toward a goal, sometimes by using tools such as email, a calendar, or a browser. A chatbot usually answers one message. An agent tries to carry the task further.
Artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence, or AI, is software that can do tasks that usually need a person, such as understanding words, spotting a pattern, or drafting a reply. It is not a mind, and it does not know things the way you do.

B

Bias in AIBias in AI means the tool's answers lean in an unfair or lopsided way. That can come from patterns in the training data, from missing examples, or from choices made when the tool was built. The lean is often invisible in a single reply.

C

G

Generative AIGenerative AI creates new text, pictures, audio, or video from a prompt. Generative means it generates something, rather than only labeling a yes or a no.

H

HallucinationA hallucination is when an AI tool states something false in a confident tone. It can invent a quote, a date, a source, a name, or a step that sounds real. The word is imperfect, but it is the one people use.

L

Large language modelA large language model is a program trained on a huge amount of text so it can predict likely next words. Chat products such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot are built on models like this. The model writes a plausible answer. It does not look up a fact unless the product adds that step.

M

Machine learningMachine learning is a way to build software by showing it many examples so it can spot patterns, instead of writing a separate rule for every case. The software adjusts itself from those examples.

P

PromptA prompt is the instruction and the information you give an AI tool. It can be one sentence or a few short paragraphs. A clear job, with the facts the tool cannot guess, usually gets a more useful answer.

T

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