AI 101
The friendliest possible introduction to what AI actually is — no math, no hype, no jargon left unexplained.
What Is AI?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is software that can do things we usually associate with human thinking — recognizing pictures, writing sentences, answering questions, making recommendations. Modern AI learns patterns from huge amounts of data rather than being programmed step-by-step.
Words You'll Hear
Model
The "brain" of an AI system. ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are each powered by models.
Prompt
What you type to the AI. Good prompts get better answers.
Training
The process of teaching a model patterns from huge piles of text, images, or other data.
Hallucination
When an AI confidently makes something up. Always double-check important facts.
Generative AI
AI that creates new content — text, images, code, audio — rather than just classifying or predicting.
LLM
"Large language model." The kind of AI behind most popular chat assistants.
Common Questions
Will AI take my job? Some tasks will change. Most jobs won't disappear — but the people who learn to work with AI tend to do better than those who ignore it.
Is it safe to share personal info? Treat AI chat like a not-totally-private conversation. Check each tool's privacy policy before pasting sensitive data.
Where should I start? Pick one tool (we suggest ChatGPT or Claude), use it daily for a week on real tasks, and see what clicks.
Ready for More?
Head to the Guides & Tutorials for step-by-step walkthroughs, or skim the AI Models page to compare what's out there.