What is artificial intelligence (AI)?
Also called: AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is software that performs tasks that usually need human intelligence, like recognising faces, translating languages or answering questions. Most modern AI learns patterns from huge numbers of examples instead of following only rules a programmer wrote by hand.
How does artificial intelligence work?
Instead of a programmer listing every rule, an AI system is shown many examples and adjusts itself until its outputs match them. A spam filter, for instance, learns what spam looks like from millions of emails marked spam or not spam.
Why does artificial intelligence matter?
AI is now inside everyday tools: maps, payments, phones and search. Knowing what it is (and isn't) helps you use it well and avoid the hype.
An example
Example: When Google Maps predicts you'll reach Andheri in 34 minutes, an AI model is estimating it from live and past traffic patterns.
Related terms
Learn it properly
Artificial intelligence is covered in AI Foundations, with short lessons, practice questions and instant feedback.