AI glossary / The basics
AI assistant
A chatbot built to help with everyday tasks: answering questions, writing, planning, summarising. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot are all AI assistants.
More words in The basics
- AI literacyKnowing enough about AI to use it well and question it sensibly. It's what this site is for.
- AlgorithmA set of step-by-step instructions a computer follows to get something done.
- Artificial intelligenceComputer systems that do things we'd normally say need human thinking: understanding language, spotting patterns, making decisions.
- ChatbotA program you talk to in everyday language by typing or speaking, and it replies.
- Computer visionAI that understands images and video, such as recognising faces, reading number plates or spotting problems on a scan.