You don’t need a computing degree to follow the AI conversation. You need about ten words. Here they are, each in a sentence or two, with the everyday picture that makes it stick. Our glossary has the full list.
1. AI (artificial intelligence)
A computer program that does things we usually think need a brain — recognising a face, translating a menu, playing a game. Most AI today learns from examples rather than following rules someone typed in.
Picture: a very fast student who has never left the library.
2. Algorithm
A list of steps for solving a problem — a recipe for a computer. “Turn left, walk ten steps, turn right” is an algorithm for getting to the park.
3. Model
The finished, trained AI — the thing you actually use. When you hear “a new model came out”, think “a new version”.
4. Training
Teaching an AI by showing it huge numbers of examples and correcting its guesses. Nobody explains why an apple is an apple; the model works out the pattern from thousands of apples. Teach Spark with fruit to see it happen.
5. Neural network
The web of connected “dots” inside most modern AI. Signals travel along the connections; training makes helpful connections stronger and unhelpful ones weaker. It is loosely inspired by the brain but is not a brain.
6. Prompt
What you type or say to an AI. Writing a good prompt is like making a good wish: say what you really mean, not just the first words that come to mind.
7. Hallucination
When an AI confidently states something untrue — a made-up quote, a book that doesn’t exist. It happens because the model learned patterns of words, not facts about the world. Always check anything that matters.
8. AGI (artificial general intelligence)
An AI that could learn almost any task a person can and move between tasks the way we do. The general is the point. It does not exist yet. Narrow AI vs AGI vs ASI, explained.
9. ASI / superintelligence
A mind far smarter than the smartest humans at almost everything — potentially thousands of times faster and running as millions of copies. Also does not exist. The subject of this whole site.
10. Alignment
Making sure an AI wants what we really mean, not just what we literally said. The genie that hears “make everyone smile” and glues on paper smiles is misaligned. This is the central safety question about powerful AI. Play the Wish Machine.
Bonus: narrow AI
AI that is brilliant at one thing and useless at everything else — a chess program, a spam filter. Almost every AI you have used so far is narrow. Knowing this word stops most confusion about headlines.
That’s the vocabulary. With those ten words you can follow almost any news story about AI — and notice when the person writing it hasn’t got them straight.