AI is full of jargon, and that can make it feel harder than it really is. This glossary explains the most common terms in plain language — no technical background needed. Think of it as a friendly dictionary you can come back to whenever you bump into a word you don't recognize.
The terms are grouped by theme so related ideas sit together. You don't need to memorize anything — just skim it, or search for the word you need.
The absolute basics
- AI (Artificial Intelligence) — A broad term for computer systems designed to do tasks that usually need human thinking, like understanding language, recognizing images, or making decisions.
- Algorithm — A set of step-by-step instructions a computer follows to solve a problem or complete a task. Like a recipe, but for a computer.
- Data — Information in a form a computer can process: text, numbers, images, and so on. AI systems learn from large amounts of data.
- Model — The "brain" of an AI tool: the trained system that takes your input and produces an answer. When people say "a model," they usually mean one specific AI system.
How AI learns
- Machine Learning (ML) — A type of AI where the system learns patterns from examples (data) instead of being given exact rules for everything. The more good examples it sees, the better it tends to get.
- Training — The process of teaching a model by showing it large amounts of data so it can learn patterns. This happens before you ever use the tool.
- Deep Learning — A more advanced form of machine learning inspired loosely by how the human brain is organized. It powers most of today's most capable AI tools.
- Neural Network — The underlying structure used in deep learning, made of many connected "nodes" that process information in layers. You don't need to understand the details to use AI.
Talking to AI
- LLM (Large Language Model) — The kind of AI behind chat tools like ChatGPT. It's trained on enormous amounts of text so it can understand and generate human-like language.
- Prompt — The text you type to tell an AI tool what you want. "Write a birthday message for my sister" is a prompt.
- Prompt Engineering — The skill of writing clear, well-structured prompts to get better results. It sounds fancy, but it mostly means being specific about what you want.
- Token — A small chunk of text (roughly a word or part of a word) that AI tools use to process language. Tools often measure length and cost in tokens.
- Context Window — How much text an AI tool can "remember" in one conversation. Once you go past it, the tool may forget the earliest parts.
Types of AI tools
- Generative AI — AI that creates new content — text, images, audio, or video — based on your request. This is the category most AI tools you hear about belong to.
- Chatbot — A tool you interact with by typing messages, which replies in a conversational way.
- Image Generator — A tool that creates pictures from a text description, such as "a watercolor painting of a mountain at sunset."
- Virtual Assistant — An AI tool that helps with tasks through voice or text, like Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant.
Things to watch out for
- Hallucination — When an AI tool states something that sounds confident but is actually wrong or made up. This is why you should always double-check important facts.
- Bias — When an AI system produces unfair or skewed results, often because the data it learned from was itself unbalanced.
- Misinformation — False or misleading information. AI can accidentally create it, so a human check matters.
- Privacy — Keeping your personal information safe. Be careful about sharing sensitive details with AI tools, since you may not control how that data is stored or used.
A few more useful words
- Open Source — Software whose code is freely available for anyone to view, use, or build on. Some AI models are open source; others are private.
- API (Application Programming Interface) — A way for different software programs to talk to each other. You won't need this as a casual user, but you'll see the term a lot.
- Fine-tuning — Taking an existing model and training it a bit more on specific data so it performs better for a particular purpose.
- GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) — The name of the family of models behind ChatGPT. "Transformer" is the technical design that made modern language AI possible.
A note on honesty
This glossary is written from the perspective of someone still learning — not an expert. Definitions are kept simple on purpose, which sometimes means leaving out technical nuance. If you ever want a deeper explanation of any term, that's a great thing to ask an AI chat tool directly.
New words will be added here over time, as the learning journey continues.