Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Computers doing things that normally need a human brain, like understanding words or recognising faces.
In everyday terms
An umbrella term for software that learns patterns from examples instead of following only hand-written rules. Spam filters, face unlock and ChatGPT are all AI.
For professionals
A broad field covering search, planning, knowledge representation and, most visibly today, machine learning. "AI" in the news almost always means machine-learned models, especially deep neural networks.
Think of it like…
Like "transport" covers bikes, trains and planes, "AI" covers many very different techniques.
You've already seen it
Your phone sorting photos by person, Netflix recommendations, maps predicting traffic.
Myth vs reality
Myth: AI thinks like a person.
Reality: Today's AI finds statistical patterns. It can be impressive without understanding the world the way people do.
Quick check
Which of these is an example of AI?
- A calculator adding numbers
- Email automatically sorting spam
- A light switch
- A printed timetable
Show answer
Email automatically sorting spam: The spam filter learned what spam looks like from examples. A calculator follows fixed rules.