AI Glossary
250 AI terms explained in plain English. No jargon, no PhD required — just clear definitions for business leaders.
- A/B Testing (with AI)
- Using AI to run experiments that compare two versions of something — like a web page or email — to see which one works better. AI can speed this up by finding the winner faster.
- Accuracy
- How often an AI model gets the right answer. If it correctly labels 95 out of 100 emails as spam or not spam, it has 95% accuracy.
- Agent
- An AI system that can take actions on its own, such as booking meetings, answering questions, or completing tasks across different tools — not just generating text.
- Algorithm
- A set of step-by-step instructions that tells a computer how to solve a problem or make a decision. Think of it as a recipe that the machine follows.
- Alignment
- Making sure an AI system behaves in ways that match human values and goals. A well-aligned AI does what you actually want, not just what it was technically told.
- Amazon Bedrock
- A service from Amazon Web Services that lets businesses use various AI models through a single platform, without needing to build everything from scratch.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- The cloud computing arm of Amazon. Many businesses use AWS to host websites, store data, and now run AI tools and services.
- Anomaly Detection
- Using AI to spot things that look unusual or out of place in your data — like a sudden spike in returns or a strange payment pattern that could signal fraud.
- Anthropic
- The AI safety company that built Claude. Founded by former OpenAI researchers, they focus on making AI systems that are safe, honest, and helpful.
- API (Application Programming Interface)
- A way for two pieces of software to talk to each other. When you connect an AI tool to your CRM, they communicate through an API.
- Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)
- A future type of AI that could learn and reason across any task as well as a human. We do not have AGI today — current AI is good at specific tasks but not everything.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Technology that allows computers to perform tasks that normally need human thinking — like understanding language, spotting patterns, or making decisions.
- Attention Mechanism
- A technique that helps AI focus on the most important parts of the input. It is the key idea behind modern language models like ChatGPT and Claude.
- Augmented Intelligence
- The idea that AI works best when it helps humans rather than replacing them. It boosts your team\
- Auto-complete
- When AI predicts and suggests the rest of a word or sentence as you type. You see this in email, search bars, and coding tools.
- Automation
- Using technology to perform tasks with little or no human effort. AI-powered automation can handle more complex work than traditional rule-based systems.
- Autonomous Systems
- Machines or software that can operate and make decisions on their own, such as self-driving cars or warehouse robots.
- Backpropagation
- The process an AI model uses to learn from its mistakes. It works backwards through the model, adjusting settings to improve future results.
- Bias (in AI)
- When an AI system produces unfair or skewed results because of problems in its training data or design. For example, a hiring tool that favours one group over another.
- Big Data
- Very large sets of information that are too big for traditional tools to handle. AI thrives on big data because more data often leads to better predictions.
- Black Box
- When an AI makes decisions but you cannot easily see or understand how it reached them. This is a concern for businesses that need to explain their choices.
- Bot
- A software program that performs automated tasks. Chatbots answer questions, social media bots post content, and trading bots buy and sell stocks.
- Business Intelligence (BI)
- Tools and methods for turning raw data into useful insights for business decisions. AI is making BI faster and more powerful.
- Chatbot
- A program that can have text or voice conversations with people. Modern AI chatbots can understand context and give helpful answers, unlike older scripted ones.
- ChatGPT
- An AI chatbot made by OpenAI. It can write text, answer questions, summarise documents, and help with many tasks. It is one of the most well-known AI tools.
- Classification
- When AI sorts things into groups. For example, an email filter classifies messages as spam or not spam, or a support tool classifies tickets by urgency.
- Claude
- An AI assistant built by Anthropic. Known for being helpful, harmless, and honest. It can handle long documents and complex conversations.
- Cloud Computing
- Using remote servers on the internet to store data and run programs, instead of using your own computers. Most AI tools run in the cloud.
- Clustering
- An AI method that groups similar items together without being told what the groups should be. Useful for finding customer segments or patterns in data.
- Cohere
- An AI company that provides language models designed for business use, with a focus on enterprise search and text understanding.