Artificial Intelligence, or AI, refers to computer systems that can perform tasks that usually require human intelligence, such as writing text, generating images, producing music, recognising speech, translating language, and making informed decisions. AI is based on the idea of creating machines that can "think" and "learn" like humans do, using algorithms to process and make sense of large amounts of data.

Watch this short video which explains a little more about AI, and how you might experience and use it within a higher education context.

AI has the potential to revolutionise the way we access education, learn and work, and we need to know enough about it to be able to use it responsibly. But what exactly is AI?

Narrow AI versus General AI

AI tools can be divided into two very broad categories: Narrow AI and General AI. We probably all use Narrow AI without realising it. This type of AI is limited to specific, automated and repetitive tasks such as online recommendation systems and voice, image and text recognition.

You will find Narrow AI features in lots of University digital tools. In Library Search, for example, Narrow AI is how the system suggests keywords as you type into the search box, and recommends books and journal articles you may like to read. Microsoft's AI features such as Designer in PowerPoint and Editor in Word are both examples of Narrow AI - these systems suggest ways to improve your work (e.g. by creating new designs or offering to rework content for different audiences), but only know what they are programmed to do.

General AI, on the other hand, is a type of machine intelligence that is more like human intelligence. It is able to learn, adapt and connect knowledge from many different sources to solve problems. This type of AI can reason and adapt… just like we do.

Generative AI

Generative AI exploded onto the scene for many of us following the public launch of ChatGPT in 2022. Unlike more cumbersome and difficult-to-use technologies, ChatGPT presented users with an easily accessible chatbot-based interface for generating text-based content quickly and easily. Other types of AI models emerged shortly afterwards, able to generate text as well as other forms of content such as images, audio and video.

So how do Generative AI tools work? Let's find out on the next page...