| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| AI assistant | A chat tool like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot that answers questions and drafts text. |
| Large language model (LLM) | The technology behind AI assistants, trained on large amounts of text to predict useful responses. |
| Prompt | What you type to the AI: your question or instructions. |
| Hallucination | When AI states something false as if it were true. See why AI makes things up. |
| Context | The information the AI can see in the conversation, including files you upload. |
| Custom instructions or projects | Saved instructions and files the AI uses every time, such as your tone and facts sheet. |
| Agent | AI that takes actions, such as sending emails or updating records, not just writing text. Needs careful limits. |
| Automation | A workflow that runs on its own, for example tagging each new email. |
| RAG (retrieval) | Letting AI look up answers in your own documents before replying. |
| Fine-tuning | Training a model further on your own examples. Rarely needed for small businesses. |
| Tokens | The small chunks of text AI tools count for limits and pricing. |
| Training data | The text a model learned from. Some plans may use your chats as training data unless you opt out. |
AI glossary in plain English
The words you will hear most, explained without jargon.
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