What it means
Artificial intelligence, or AI, is an umbrella term. It covers machine learning models that predict numbers, systems that read images and, most visibly today, large language models that understand and write text. What they share is that they learn patterns from data rather than following only hand-written rules.
In business, "AI" now usually means language models used for writing, reading documents, answering questions and, increasingly, acting as agents that use other software.
Why it matters for a business
AI can take on work that used to need a person's attention: reading, sorting, summarizing and drafting. It is not perfect, and it can be confidently wrong, so the best business uses pair AI speed with human review where it matters.
A business example
Things to watch
-
AI can be confidently wrong, so check important outputs.
-
Know where your data goes when you send it to an AI service.
-
Measure results against the process it replaces.