Glossary
Generative AI
AI that produces new content, such as text, images, audio, video, or code.
Generative AI refers to systems that create new content in response to a request, or prompt. Examples include chatbots that write text, tools that make images or music, and assistants that write software.
It differs from earlier AI tools that classify or score things, such as a system that flags a suspicious transaction or a spot on a scan. Regulators and courts often treat the two differently, because generated output can vary from one request to the next and can be wrong in ways that are hard to predict.
Many products described as "AI" in news coverage now include a generative component, but not all do. It is worth checking what the tool actually produces.