What is Artificial Intelligence?
The term "Artificial Intelligence" has been used quite often recently. It's been featured on the news, discussed in classes, and shared on social media. Still, the term itself can represent a wide array of technologies and tools and, for that reason, its definition can get fuzzy. Artificial Intelligence can be viewed as a set of methods and systems that allow computers to mimic facets of human intelligent such as learning, synthesis, and classification without direct prompting. Under the umbrella of AI are several other terms you may have heard such as: machine learning, deep learning, and generative AI.
Despite the recent boost in coverage of the topic, AI isn't a new phenomenon. There are likely tools and applications you are already familiar with that use AI such as Siri, Grammarly, Google Maps and many more. In fact, the term "Artificial Intelligence" was coined in 1956 with the first AI programs dating back to the late 50s and early 60s. The AI that is hitting the news at the moment is a specific subset of AI called "Generative AI," artificial intelligence that has the ability to generate new content such as text, images, and even music.
Artificial Intelligence - Key Terms
LLMs (Large Language Models) - a type of artificial intelligence that can analyze and generate text. These are created using a subset of machine learning, deep learning, and trained on large datasets of text. ChatGPT is a large language model.
Generative AI - a subset of AI that can generate new content such as text, images, and music.
Machine Learning - a branch of computer science and artificial intelligence that uses statistical analysis and algorithms to create programs that can gradually improve their abilities to classify data or predict outcomes.
Natural Language Processing - a subset of machine learning that allows computer programs to interpret, generate, and manipulate human language.
