The Dictionary
The words you keep hearing, in plain language. One line each. Nothing you do not need.
The words behind it all
AI
Software that can understand your words and answer back, almost like talking to a person.
Prompt
What you type or say to the AI. Your question, your request. Nothing more.
Chatbot
A window where you type a question and the AI answers, back and forth, like a conversation.
Model
The engine behind the AI. When people say a “new model,” they mean a smarter version of it.
The tools you hear named
ChatGPT
The best known AI chatbot, made by a company called OpenAI. The one most people tried first.
Claude
Another leading AI chatbot, made by a company called Anthropic. Known for careful, thoughtful answers.
Gemini
Google’s AI chatbot. It sits inside the Google tools you may already use.
Copilot
Microsoft’s AI helper. It works inside Word, Outlook and the rest of the Office tools.
The words that make people feel left out
Generative AI
AI that creates something new for you, a written post, an image, a summary, from your request.
Hallucination
When the AI states something wrong with full confidence. This is why you always check its work.
Token
The small pieces of text an AI reads and writes. You will hear it, but you never have to count them.
Agent
An AI that does not just answer, but carries out a task from start to finish for you.
Agentic
Describes AI that works on its own to reach a goal, deciding the steps as it goes, not just answering.