AI Glossary for Businesses
Artificial intelligence has its own technical language. This glossary explains the most important AI terms in plain language, with practical examples showing how they are relevant to your business. The glossary is developed by AIKI to give business leaders and employees a shared vocabulary for AI discussions.
What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is an umbrella term for technologies that enable computers to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence. This includes understanding language, recognizing images, making decisions, and learning from data. For businesses, AI in practice means tools that automate customer service, analyze documents, qualify leads, and streamline administrative processes. AIKI helps businesses implement AI solutions that deliver measurable value.
What is AGI (Artificial General Intelligence)?
AGI, or artificial general intelligence, is a hypothetical form of AI that can perform all intellectual tasks a human brain can. Today's AI systems are narrow: they are good at specific tasks but cannot generalize like humans can. AGI does not yet exist but is a long-term research goal for companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. For businesses, AGI is currently irrelevant; focus instead on the practical AI tools available today.
What is an AI Agent?
An AI agent is a self-governing AI system that can perform multi-step tasks without human intervention. Unlike a regular chatbot, an AI agent can read email, search databases, make decisions, and take actions on behalf of the user. For businesses, this means automation of entire work processes, not just individual tasks. AIKI builds AI agents tailored to Norwegian businesses' processes, such as agents that handle customer inquiries, qualify leads, or process invoices.
What is an API?
API (Application Programming Interface) is an interface that lets different software talk to each other. In an AI context, APIs are used to connect AI models to business systems. For example, a CRM system can use OpenAI's API to automatically analyze customer inquiries. AIKI uses APIs to integrate AI solutions with the tools businesses already use.
What is Automation?
Automation is the use of technology to perform tasks automatically without human intervention. AI-driven automation goes further than traditional rule-based automation because it can handle unstructured data and make intelligent decisions. Examples include automatic email sorting, invoice processing, and report generation. AIKI delivers automation solutions from NOK 5,000 per month.
What is a Chatbot?
A chatbot is a program that simulates human conversation, typically via text on a website. AI chatbots use language models to understand questions and provide relevant answers. Modern chatbots can be trained on the company's own data to give precise answers about products, services, and processes. AIKI's AI Chatbot solution gives businesses 24/7 customer service trained on their own content.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an AI service developed by OpenAI that uses large language models (GPT series) to generate text, answer questions, and perform tasks. ChatGPT is the most used generative AI service globally with over 900 million weekly users. For businesses, ChatGPT is useful for content production, research, code assistance, and idea generation, but requires customization for business-specific tasks.
What is Claude?
Claude is an AI assistant developed by Anthropic, known for its focus on safety and accuracy. Claude is used by businesses for document analysis, code generation, and complex reasoning tasks. Claude is particularly good at long documents and accurate information processing. AIKI uses Claude and other AI models in our solutions, depending on what delivers the best results for each task.
What is Copilot?
Copilot is Microsoft's AI assistant integrated into Microsoft 365 products (Word, Excel, Teams, Outlook). Copilot uses OpenAI's models to help users write documents, analyze data in spreadsheets, summarize meetings, and manage email. For businesses already using Microsoft 365, Copilot can deliver quick productivity gains without major workflow changes.
What is AI-Driven Data Analysis?
AI-driven data analysis uses machine learning and statistical models to find patterns, trends, and insights in large datasets. Unlike traditional analysis, AI can process unstructured data (text, images, audio) and identify connections that humans miss. For Norwegian businesses, AI analysis is useful for customer segmentation, demand forecasting, and risk assessment.
What is Deep Learning?
Deep learning is a subcategory of machine learning that uses neural networks with many layers (hence 'deep') to learn complex patterns from data. It is the technology behind the most advanced AI systems, including language models, image recognition, and speech technology. Deep learning requires large amounts of data and computing power, but results are often superior to traditional machine learning.
What is Fine-Tuning?
Fine-tuning is the process of adapting a pre-trained AI model to a specific task or domain. Instead of training a model from scratch, you take an existing model and train it further with business-specific data. For example, a general language model can be fine-tuned on accounting terminology to give better answers about Norwegian bookkeeping. AIKI uses fine-tuning where it delivers noticeable improvement.
What is Generative AI?
Generative AI refers to AI systems that can create new content: text, images, code, music, and video. ChatGPT, Claude, Midjourney, and DALL-E are examples. For businesses, generative AI is useful for content production, customer communication, marketing, and prototyping. According to Deloitte, 79 percent of global enterprises use generative AI in at least one business area. AIKI helps businesses implement generative AI safely and effectively.
What is GPT?
GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is a series of language models developed by OpenAI. GPT models are trained on enormous amounts of text and can generate human-like text, answer questions, and perform language tasks. GPT-4o and GPT-5 are the latest versions. GPT is the technology behind ChatGPT and is used in many business solutions through OpenAI's API.
What is AI Hallucination?
AI hallucination is when an AI model generates information that sounds credible but is incorrect or fabricated. This happens because language models predict likely word sequences, not verify facts. For businesses, this means AI-generated content should always be quality-checked by humans, especially for fact-based communication. AIKI builds verification mechanisms into our solutions to minimize hallucinations.
What is KI (Kunstig Intelligens)?
KI is the Norwegian abbreviation for artificial intelligence, equivalent to the English AI (Artificial Intelligence). The terms are used interchangeably in Norwegian technical literature and business. In everyday speech, AI is more common, but KI appears in public documents and academic contexts. See the AI definition above for a complete explanation.
What is an LLM (Large Language Model)?
An LLM (Large Language Model) is an AI model trained on enormous amounts of text to understand and generate human-like language. GPT-4, Claude, and Gemini are examples of LLMs. They are the foundation for modern chatbots, text generation, and language analysis. For businesses, LLMs are valuable because they can be customized for business-specific tasks through prompting, fine-tuning, or RAG.
What is Machine Learning?
Machine learning is a subcategory of AI where algorithms learn from data without being explicitly programmed for each task. The system identifies patterns in historical data and uses these patterns to make predictions about new data. For Norwegian businesses, machine learning is used for customer segmentation, demand forecasting, fraud detection, and quality control. It is the most widely applied form of AI in business.
What is NLP (Natural Language Processing)?
NLP (Natural Language Processing) is the AI field dealing with getting computers to understand, interpret, and generate human-like language. NLP is the technology behind chatbots, machine translation, sentiment analysis, and text summarization. For Norwegian businesses, NLP is relevant for automating customer communication, document analysis, and multilingual content.
What is a Neural Network?
A neural network is a computational model inspired by the human brain. It consists of interconnected nodes (neurons) organized in layers that process data. Neural networks are the foundation of modern AI systems, including image recognition, speech technology, and language models. The more layers (deeper network), the more complex patterns the model can learn.
What is a Prompt?
A prompt is the instruction or question you give to an AI model. The quality of the prompt largely determines the quality of the AI's response. A good prompt is specific, provides context, and describes the desired format. For businesses, good prompts are critical for getting value from AI tools. AIKI develops custom prompt templates as part of our implementations.
What is Prompt Engineering?
Prompt engineering is the art of formulating instructions to AI models to achieve the best possible results. It involves structuring the prompt with the right context, examples, and constraints. For businesses, prompt engineering is important because it can make the difference between a useless and a valuable AI solution. AIKI's courses cover prompt engineering as a central part of training.
What is RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)?
RAG is a technique that combines information retrieval with AI text generation. Instead of relying solely on the model's training data, RAG systems retrieve relevant information from a knowledge base (e.g., company documents) and use this as the basis for generating answers. This reduces hallucinations and makes answers more accurate and up-to-date. AIKI uses RAG in chatbots and AI agents to provide precise, business-specific answers.
What is RPA (Robotic Process Automation)?
RPA is technology that automates rule-based, repetitive tasks by mimicking human interaction with computer systems. RPA robots can log into systems, copy data between applications, and fill out forms. AI-driven RPA (intelligent automation) goes further by handling unstructured data and making decisions. AIKI delivers modern AI automation that often replaces or extends traditional RPA.
What is a Language Model?
A language model is an AI system trained to understand and generate text. Modern language models (like GPT and Claude) are trained on enormous amounts of text from the internet and can perform a wide range of language tasks: answering questions, writing text, translating, summarizing, and analyzing. Language models are the core of most AI solutions AIKI delivers to Norwegian businesses.
What is a Token in AI?
A token is the smallest unit a language model operates with. It can be a word, part of a word, or a character. For example, 'artificial intelligence' is typically split into 2-3 tokens. The number of tokens determines how much text a model can process at once (the context window) and affects the cost of using AI APIs. Businesses often pay per token for API access.
What is a Transformer?
Transformer is the architecture behind modern language models. It was introduced by Google in 2017 and revolutionized AI by making it possible to process text in parallel (instead of sequentially) and focus on the most relevant parts of input text through a mechanism called attention. GPT, Claude, and Gemini are all based on the transformer architecture.
What is a Vector in AI?
In an AI context, a vector is a numerical representation of data (text, images, audio) that captures the meaning or properties of the data. Similar concepts get similar vectors. Vector databases are used in RAG systems and semantic search to find relevant information based on meaning, not just keywords. AIKI uses vector databases in chatbots and search solutions.
What is Supervised Learning?
Supervised learning is a form of machine learning where the model is trained on labeled data, meaning data where the correct answer is known in advance. The model learns to connect input to output based on examples. Used for classification (is this spam?) and prediction (what will the price be?). It is the most common form of machine learning in business.
What is Unsupervised Learning?
Unsupervised learning is machine learning where the model finds patterns in data without labeled examples. Instead of being told what to find, the model discovers structures and groupings on its own. Used for customer segmentation, anomaly detection, and data reduction. For businesses, unsupervised learning is useful for discovering hidden patterns in customer data and transactions.
Want to learn more about AI?
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