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WellWired Glossary

Plain-English AI Glossary

Simple explanations for the AI terms you hear every day. Search, filter, and explore at your own pace.

Accessibility

practical

Designing tech so everyone can use it, including people with disabilities.

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Accuracy

technical

How often a model gives the correct answer.

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Agent

tools

An AI that can take steps to complete a task.

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AGI (Artificial General Intelligence)

basics

A hypothetical AI that could perform any intellectual task a human can.

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AI Assistant

basics

An AI tool that helps with tasks by conversation.

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AI Ethics

safety

Thinking carefully about right and wrong uses of AI.

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AI Safety

safety

Practices that keep AI systems reliable and non-harmful.

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AI Safety

safety

The field focused on making AI systems safe and reliable.

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AI Tool

tools

A product that uses AI to help you do something.

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Alexa

tools

Amazon's voice assistant found in Echo devices.

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Algorithm

basics

A step-by-step set of rules that tells a computer what to do.

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Alignment

safety

Making sure AI behaves in line with human goals and values.

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Analytics

practical

Measuring and studying data to understand patterns.

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Annotation

technical

Labels or notes added to data to make it usable for training.

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Anthropic

tools

The company that makes the Claude AI assistant.

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API

practical

A way for software to talk to other software.

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Apple Intelligence

tools

Apple's suite of AI features built into its devices.

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Apps

practical

Programs you install on phones or computers.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI)

basics

Software that can perform tasks that normally require human thinking, like understanding language or spotting patterns.

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Assistant App

tools

A mobile or web app that provides AI assistance.

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Assistant Memory

safety

When an AI remembers information to personalize future chats.

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Assistant Privacy

safety

How a chatbot or assistant handles your personal information.

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Assistant Settings

practical

Options that control how an AI assistant behaves.

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Assistant Tools

practical

AI features that help with daily tasks.

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Assistive Technology

practical

Tools that help people with disabilities use tech more easily.

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Attention

technical

A method that helps models focus on the most important parts of input.

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Audio

technical

Sound data that AI can analyze or generate.

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Augmented Reality (AR)

practical

Digital content layered on top of the real world.

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Autocomplete

practical

A feature that finishes a word or phrase as you type.

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Autocorrect

practical

A feature that fixes typos as you type.

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Automation

practical

Using software or machines to do tasks automatically.

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Autonomous Vehicle

practical

A car or vehicle that can drive itself using sensors and AI.

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Autonomy

technical

The ability for a system to act on its own.

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Backup

safety

A copy of your files in case something goes wrong.

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Benchmark

technical

A standard test used to compare models.

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Bias

safety

Unfair or one-sided results caused by skewed data or design choices.

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Billing

practical

How payments are charged and recorded.

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Blockchain

technical

A shared digital record that is hard to change.

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Bounding Box

technical

A rectangle that marks where an object is in an image.

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Branding

practical

How a company presents itself visually and emotionally.

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Chain of Thought

technical

A step-by-step reasoning process used to solve a problem.

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Changelog

practical

A list of changes in a new release.

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Chatbot

basics

A program you can talk to in text or voice.

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ChatGPT

tools

An AI assistant from OpenAI that answers questions and helps with writing.

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Claude

tools

An AI assistant from Anthropic known for clear, friendly explanations.

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Cloud Computing

practical

Using remote servers over the internet instead of your own device.

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Clustering

technical

Grouping similar items without pre-made labels.

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Community

practical

People who use and improve a tool together.

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Compliance

safety

Following laws and rules.

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Computer Vision

technical

AI that understands images and videos.

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Consent

safety

Clear permission for a company to use your data.

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Content

practical

The text, images, and media on a website or app.

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Content Policy

safety

Rules that describe what content is allowed.

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Context Window

technical

How much text a model can consider at once.

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Cookies

safety

Small files that websites store to remember you.

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Copilot

tools

An AI helper from Microsoft that assists with writing, coding, and tasks.

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Copy

practical

Written text used in marketing or on websites.

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Crawler

technical

A program that scans and collects web pages for search engines.

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Creative Tools

tools

AI that helps make art, music, or writing.

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Cryptocurrency

practical

Digital money secured by cryptography and blockchain.

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Curriculum

practical

A planned set of lessons.

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Customer Service

practical

Helping users solve problems or answer questions.

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Cybersecurity

safety

The practice of defending computers and networks.

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DALL-E

tools

An OpenAI tool that generates images from text.

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Dashboard

practical

A screen that summarizes key numbers and trends.

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Data

basics

Information that a computer can store and use.

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Data Drift

safety

A gradual change in data that can reduce model accuracy.

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Data Minimization

safety

Collecting only the data you actually need.

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Dataset

technical

A collection of data used for training or testing.

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Dataset Shift

safety

When real-world data changes so a model performs worse.

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Decentralization

technical

Spreading control across many computers instead of one owner.

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Decision Making

practical

Choosing between options based on information.

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Deep Learning

technical

A type of machine learning that uses very large neural networks with many layers.

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Deepfake

safety

AI-made media that looks real but is actually fake.

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Deployment

technical

Putting an app or model into real-world use.

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Design

practical

Planning how something looks and works.

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Developer Tools

practical

Software that helps people build apps or models.

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Device

practical

A piece of hardware you use, like a phone or tablet.

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Digital Assistant

practical

Software that helps you with tasks like scheduling or writing.

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Documentation

practical

Written guides explaining how to use something.

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Drift

safety

Changes over time that can hurt model performance.

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Drone

practical

A small flying robot controlled by software or a person.

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Edge Computing

technical

Processing data on or near the device instead of in a distant cloud.

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Education

practical

Structured learning with lessons and practice.

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Embedding

technical

A way to turn text or images into numbers that capture meaning.

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Encryption

safety

Scrambling data so only the right people can read it.

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Entity

technical

A real-world thing in data, like a person or place.

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Evaluation

technical

Testing an AI to see how well it performs.

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Explainability

technical

How well we can understand why an AI made a decision.

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Facial Recognition

safety

AI that identifies people by their face.

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Fact-Checking

safety

Verifying AI output against trusted sources.

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Fairness

safety

Ensuring AI treats people equally and without discrimination.

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FAQ

practical

A list of frequently asked questions and answers.

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Few-Shot

technical

Doing a task after seeing a few examples.

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Fine-Tuning

technical

Training an existing model on a smaller, specific set of data to specialize it.

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Forecast

practical

A prediction about the near future.

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Forums

practical

Online spaces where people discuss questions and ideas.

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Fraud

safety

Deceiving people to steal money or information.

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Freemium

practical

A free version with paid upgrades for extra features.

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Future of AI

practical

How AI might develop and affect society over time.

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GDPR

safety

A European privacy law that gives people more control over their data.

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Gemini

tools

Google's AI assistant, integrated into Google services and apps.

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Generalization

technical

When a model works well on new data it has not seen before.

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Generative AI

basics

AI that creates new content like text, images, or audio.

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Google DeepMind

tools

Google's AI research lab behind systems like AlphaFold and Gemini.

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Governance

safety

How organizations set rules and oversight for AI.

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GPT

technical

A family of language models made by OpenAI that powers tools like ChatGPT.

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Grammar Check

practical

A tool that fixes grammar and sentence structure.

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Grounding

technical

Linking AI outputs to real sources or evidence.

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Guardrails

safety

Safety rules that limit what an AI can do.

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Guides

practical

Step-by-step instructions for users.

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Hallucination

safety

When an AI confidently makes something up that is not true.

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Hardware

technical

The physical parts of a computer or device.

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Headset

practical

A wearable device for VR or AR experiences.

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Health Tech

practical

Technology used to support health and medical care.

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Hosting

practical

Where a website or app lives on the internet.

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Human in the Loop

safety

A person reviews or approves AI outputs.

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Identity Theft

safety

When someone uses your personal details to pretend to be you.

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Image Editing

tools

AI tools that remove, add, or change parts of an image.

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Image Generation

tools

AI that creates images from text descriptions.

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Image Recognition

technical

AI that identifies objects or people in images.

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Inclusive Design

practical

Designing products that work for people with different needs.

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Indexing

technical

Organizing content so it can be found quickly.

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Inference

technical

Using a trained model to make predictions or outputs.

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Infrastructure

technical

The underlying hardware and services that run software.

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Integration

practical

Connecting tools so they work together and share data.

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Interface

practical

The part of a product you see and use.

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Internet of Things (IoT)

practical

Everyday devices connected to the internet.

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Interpretability

technical

How easy it is to understand a model's behavior.

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Keyboard

practical

The typing tool where predictive text and autocorrect appear.

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Keywords

practical

Words or phrases people search for.

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Knowledge Base

practical

A collection of documents used to answer questions.

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Knowledge Graph

technical

A structured map of facts and how they relate.

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Language Model

technical

A model that predicts and generates text.

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Large Language Model (LLM)

technical

A model trained on huge amounts of text so it can generate and understand language.

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Latency

technical

The delay between a request and a response.

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Learning

practical

Gaining knowledge through study or practice.

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Lessons

practical

Individual learning units within a course.

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License

practical

Legal terms that say how software or data can be used.

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Llama

tools

A family of open models released by Meta.

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Localization

practical

Adapting content for a specific country or culture.

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Low-Code

practical

Building software with minimal hand-written code.

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Machine Learning

basics

A way for computers to learn from examples instead of being told every rule.

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Maintenance

technical

Keeping systems updated and running smoothly.

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Malware

safety

Harmful software designed to steal data or damage devices.

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Marketing

practical

Sharing information about a product to reach people.

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Memory

safety

Stored information that can shape future AI responses.

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Meta AI

tools

Meta's AI team and products used across Facebook, Instagram, and more.

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Metaverse

practical

A concept for shared online virtual worlds.

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Metrics

technical

Numbers used to measure performance.

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Microsoft Copilot

tools

Microsoft's AI assistant inside Windows and Office.

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Midjourney

tools

A popular AI image generator with a distinct artistic style.

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Misinformation

safety

False information that spreads, sometimes accidentally.

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Mixed Reality (MR)

practical

A blend of real and virtual elements that interact together.

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Model

technical

The trained system that produces AI results.

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Model Card

safety

A document explaining how a model works and its limits.

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Model Monitoring

safety

Watching how a model performs over time.

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Moderation

safety

Filtering content to reduce harmful or unsafe outputs.

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Multilingual

practical

Working in more than one language.

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Multimodal

technical

AI that works with more than one type of data, like text and images.

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Narrow AI

basics

AI built to do one specific task very well.

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Natural Language Processing (NLP)

technical

Technology that helps computers understand and generate everyday human language.

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Neural Network

technical

A computer system built from layers of tiny calculators that work together to recognize patterns.

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No-Code

practical

Building software with visual tools instead of programming.

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Object Detection

technical

AI that finds and locates items within an image.

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Open Source

practical

Software with code that anyone can view, use, and improve.

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Open Source Model

technical

An AI model whose code or weights are publicly available.

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OpenAI

tools

The company behind ChatGPT and the GPT models.

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Opt-Out

safety

A choice to stop data collection or marketing.

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Optimization

technical

Improving a system to get better results, like higher accuracy or lower cost.

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Oversight

safety

Human review of AI decisions and behavior.

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Parameter

technical

A value inside a model that helps decide its output.

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Performance

technical

How fast and reliable a system is.

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Personalization

practical

Customizing experiences based on your preferences or behavior.

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Phishing

safety

A scam that tricks people into giving personal information.

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Planning

practical

Deciding what steps to take to reach a goal.

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Policy

safety

Rules that guide how something should be used.

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Precision

technical

How many of the model's positive results are actually correct.

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Prediction

technical

An estimate of what will happen based on data.

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Predictive Text

practical

Suggestions that guess what you will type next.

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Pricing

practical

How much a product or service costs.

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Privacy

safety

Keeping your personal information under your control.

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Process

practical

A repeatable way of doing something.

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Productivity

practical

Getting more done with the same effort.

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Prompt

basics

The message or instruction you give an AI.

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Prompt Engineering

practical

Writing prompts in a way that improves AI outputs.

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Prompt Library

practical

A saved collection of prompts you can reuse.

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Publishing

practical

Making content available to the public.

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Quality

technical

How good or useful an output is.

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RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)

technical

A method where AI retrieves facts from a source before writing an answer.

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Ransomware

safety

Malware that locks your files until you pay.

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Reasoning

technical

Using steps and logic to reach an answer.

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Recall

technical

How many of the real positives the model finds.

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Recommendation System

practical

AI that suggests items you might like.

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Reinforcement Learning

technical

Learning by trial and error using rewards.

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Release

practical

A new version of software or a model.

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Reliability

technical

How consistently a system works as expected.

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Reporting

practical

Sharing results and metrics in a clear format.

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Research

technical

Careful study and testing to learn new things.

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Retrieval

technical

Finding relevant information before generating an answer.

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Retrieval Augmented Generation

technical

Another name for RAG, where AI pulls facts from sources before writing.

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Reward Model

technical

A model that scores outputs so AI learns what is good.

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Risk

safety

The chance that something could go wrong.

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Robot

practical

A machine that can perform physical tasks on its own or with guidance.

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SaaS (Software as a Service)

practical

Software you use through a browser instead of installing.

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Sampling

technical

Choosing outputs based on probabilities instead of one fixed answer.

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Samsung Galaxy AI

tools

Samsung's AI features for Galaxy phones.

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Scalability

technical

How well a system handles growth in users or data.

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Scams

safety

Tricks designed to get money or data from you.

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Scenario

practical

A possible situation used for planning or testing.

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Search

practical

Finding information by matching queries to documents.

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Security

safety

Protecting systems and data from harm.

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Semantic Search

technical

Search that focuses on meaning rather than exact keywords.

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Sensor

technical

A device that measures something like motion, light, or temperature.

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Sentiment Analysis

technical

AI that detects emotion or tone in text.

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SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

practical

Improving a site so it ranks higher in search results.

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Serving

technical

Delivering model outputs to users in real time.

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Simulation

technical

A computer-made model of a real-world system.

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Siri

tools

Apple's voice assistant for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

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Sitemap

practical

A file that lists pages on a website for search engines.

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Smart Home

practical

A home with connected devices you can control digitally.

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Smart Speaker

practical

A speaker with a voice assistant built in.

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Smartphone

practical

A phone that runs apps and connects to the internet.

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Software

practical

Programs that run on computers or phones.

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Sora

tools

A video generation model from OpenAI.

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Spatial Computing

technical

Computing that understands and uses physical space.

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Speech Recognition

technical

Technology that turns spoken words into text.

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Spell Check

practical

Software that finds and fixes spelling mistakes.

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Stable Diffusion

tools

An open source model used for generating images.

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Subscription

practical

Paying regularly for ongoing access to a service.

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Suggestions

practical

Helpful recommendations shown by software.

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Summarization

tools

AI that shortens long text into key points.

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Supervised Learning

technical

Training with labeled examples where the right answer is known.

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Support

practical

Help from a company or community when something goes wrong.

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System Prompt

technical

Instructions given to an AI to define its role and behavior.

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Temperature

technical

A setting that controls how creative or predictable an AI is.

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Templates

practical

Pre-made structures you can fill in.

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Text

technical

Written words that can be analyzed or generated by AI.

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Text Generation

tools

AI that writes new text based on a prompt.

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Text to Speech (TTS)

practical

Technology that reads written text out loud.

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Time Saving

practical

Reducing the time a task takes.

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Token

technical

A small chunk of text that a language model processes.

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Tools

practical

Apps or features used to get tasks done.

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Tracking

safety

Recording user activity to understand behavior or show ads.

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Training

technical

The process of teaching an AI by showing it lots of data.

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Training Data

technical

The examples used to teach an AI model.

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Transfer Learning

technical

Reusing a model trained on one task to help with another task.

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Transformer

technical

A neural network design that is especially good at language tasks.

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Translation

practical

Converting text or speech from one language to another.

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Translation Model

technical

A model specialized in translating between languages.

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Transparency

safety

Being clear about how AI works and how data is used.

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Trust

safety

Confidence that a system is reliable and safe.

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Unsupervised Learning

technical

Learning patterns from data without labels.

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Uptime

technical

How often a system is available and working.

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Usability

practical

How easy a product is to use.

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User Experience (UX)

practical

How a product feels to use.

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Vector

technical

A list of numbers that represents something like a word or image.

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Vector Database

technical

A database built to store and search embeddings.

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Versioning

technical

Numbering changes to software over time.

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Video Generation

tools

AI that creates short videos from text or images.

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Virtual Reality (VR)

practical

A fully digital environment you can look around in.

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Voice Assistant

practical

An AI you speak to for help with tasks or questions.

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Voice Bot

tools

An automated phone assistant you can speak with.

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Voice Cloning

safety

AI that can mimic a person's voice using samples.

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Wallet

practical

An app or device that stores your cryptocurrency keys.

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Watermarking

safety

Adding a hidden mark to AI content to show its source.

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Wearable

practical

A device you wear that tracks information or provides features.

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Web3

technical

A vision of the internet built on decentralized technologies.

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Webhook

practical

An automated message sent when something happens in an app.

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Workflow

practical

The steps you take to complete a task.

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Workflow Automation

practical

Connecting apps so tasks happen automatically.

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Writing Tools

tools

AI features that help you write more clearly and quickly.

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Zero-Shot

technical

Doing a task without seeing specific examples first.

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