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The term AI has turned into a catch-all. It’s used to describe everything from ChatGPT to cancer detection tools to toothbrushes. No wonder everyone is confused.

Interestingly, many of the experts don’t always agree either. There are lots of broadly accepted terms, but if you start asking people how to classify AI, the definitions diverge fast.

So what actually counts as AI? Let’s get into the basics. And look, I know a conversation about terminology might sound dull. But stick with me. Because I really do believe that if we want to feel confident in the age of AI (whether that means using these tools or choosing not to), we need a shared understanding of what we’re talking about that’s separate from the hype.

Why AI definitions feel messy

“The term AI has become meaningless in some ways because people often use it synonymously with technology in general,” Vasant Dhar, a Professor at NYU Stern and author of Thinking With Machines: The Brave New World of AI, explains.

But the problem is that AI isn’t one thing. “AI is many different technologies,” Rupert Shute, Professor of Practice in Emerging Technology Governance and Regulation at Imperial College London, tells me. But the popularity of tools like ChatGPT, which we call generative AI, has muddied the waters.

“Generative AI is drowning everything else out, which is a shame,” Shute says. “Because most actual value comes from other classes of AI that we’ve been using for decades.”

You're already using AI – you just don't know it

It’s sort of no surprise we use AI to describe tech more generally, because a lot of our tech does have AI elements built into it. Most of it just doesn’t feel that new or futuristic because it’s been around long enough that we no longer notice it.

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“There are many types of AI quietly working behind the scenes,” Thiago Ferreira, CEO and Founder at Elevate AI Consulting, an AI training and consultancy company, tells me. “Things like spam filters, fraud detection, medical imaging tools, recommendation systems, or even the way your phone sorts your photos are all forms of AI.”

When you list these examples, he says, people often respond with: “Oh, I didn’t realize that counted as AI.”

What is generative AI?

I’ve mentioned generative AI a few times, but it’s worth getting clear on this definition.

Generative AI is a type of AI that creates new content in response to a prompt. It can create text, images, audio, code, explanations, and more. It doesn’t go and find information; it generates something new based on patterns it has learned from lots of data.