Plain-English AI glossary
Short definitions to make tool instructions and AI discussions easier to follow.
- Generative AI
- Models that produce content such as text, images, audio, or code from patterns learned during training.
- Large language model (LLM)
- A model trained on large amounts of language data to predict and generate sequences of tokens.
- Token
- A unit a model processes, often a word fragment, character, or punctuation mark.
- Context window
- The amount of information a model can consider in a single interaction. It is not the same as permanent memory.
- Hallucination
- An output containing invented or unsupported information, sometimes presented with apparent confidence.
- AI agent
- A system that uses a model and tools to carry out steps toward a goal, with varying degrees of autonomy.
- Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
- Retrieving relevant source material and supplying it to a model to help inform an answer.
- Fine-tuning
- Additional training that changes a model’s parameters for a task, style, or domain.
- Inference
- Running a trained model to produce an output. Distinct from training the model.
- AGI
- Artificial general intelligence: a term for broadly capable AI, with no single universally accepted threshold.
A few more useful distinctions
- Open weights
- Model parameters available for download under a license. This does not necessarily include training data or unrestricted commercial rights.
- Multimodal
- A system that works with more than one kind of input or output, such as text and images.
- Embedding
- A numerical representation used to compare or retrieve items by patterns of similarity.
- Prompt injection
- Instructions planted in content an assistant reads, attempting to redirect its behavior beyond the user’s intended task.
- Evaluation
- A defined process for checking a system against relevant tasks and failure conditions.
- Inference cost
- The resources spent running a model, distinct from the cost of training it.
- Agent permission
- The access an assistant has to take actions through connected tools or accounts.