Definitions

What is AI Augmentation? AI augmentation refers to the collaborative use of artificial intelligence systems to enhance, support, and amplify the cognitive and physical capabilities of human workers, rather than replacing them entirely. AI augmentation functions as a partnership where…

AI Automation What is AI Automation? AI automation is the design and implementation of artificial intelligence systems to autonomously execute defined, rule-based, or pattern-driven tasks with minimal to zero human intervention. Unlike augmentation, AI automation involves handing off the complete…

What is an AI Copywriter? An AI copywriter is a generative AI tool specifically used to draft marketing and sales content, acting as a tireless assistant for creating everything from website text to social media posts. An AI copywriter is…

What is an AI Employee? An AI Employee is the Canadian AI Guy’s term for a custom-trained AI system designed to perform a specific, recurring job within your organization. An AI Employee is a bespoke, secure AI system that moves…

What is AI for Storytelling? AI for storytelling is the strategic use of artificial intelligence to assist in the discovery, development, and articulation of a compelling narrative. Unlike general AI writing, which focuses on generating text, AI for storytelling is…

What are AI Hallucinations? AI hallucinations is a term describing the phenomenon where a Large Language Model (LLM) generates false, fabricated, or nonsensical information that is presented as factual and with high confidence, even though it has no basis in…

What is AI Matchmaking? AI matchmaking is the use of artificial intelligence to analyze data about individuals and proactively identify and suggest high-value connections between them based on shared interests, goals, or complementary needs. AI matchmaking systems work by processing…

What is an AI Model? An AI model is a computer program that has been trained on massive amounts of data to recognize patterns, make predictions, or generate output (such as text, images, or code) based on new, unseen input….

What is AI Model Drift? AI model drift (or simply ‘drift’) is the phenomenon where the performance or accuracy of a deployed AI model gradually degrades over time because the real-world data it processes starts to diverge significantly from the…

What is an AI Policy? An AI policy is an internal document that provides a set of rules and guidelines for how an organization’s employees can use artificial intelligence technologies ethically, securely, and effectively. An AI policy serves as a…

What is an AI Tool? An AI tool is any software application, platform, or user interface that integrates one or more underlying AI models to perform a specific, useful function for a human user. The AI tool is the practical,…

What is AI Transcription? AI transcription is the process of using artificial intelligence, specifically speech recognition technology, to automatically convert audio or video files into written text. At its core, AI transcription automates the traditionally manual and time-consuming task of…

What is an AI User? An AI user is an individual who interacts with an artificial intelligence system or tool to solve a problem, complete a task, or generate a specific outcome, serving as the essential strategic partner for the…

What is AI Writing? AI writing is the use of artificial intelligence technologies, such as large language models, to automatically generate, edit, summarize, or enhance human language text. At its core, AI writing involves using a tool—often powered by a…

What is AI-Powered Prospecting? AI-Powered Prospecting is the process of using artificial intelligence tools to automate and enhance the way you find, research, and connect with potential new customers. This modern approach to lead generation uses AI to analyze massive…

What is Allocative Harm? Allocative harm is a specific type of AI-related societal risk that occurs when a biased or flawed artificial intelligence system unfairly distributes—or withholds—an opportunity, resource, or service, leading to inequitable outcomes for certain demographic groups. Allocative…

What is an API? An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a set of rules and protocols that allows different software applications to communicate and share information with each other. An API acts as an intermediary or a messenger, enabling…

What is Artificial intelligence (AI)? Artificial intelligence (AI) is a broad field of computer science dedicated to building systems that can perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. Artificial intelligence (AI) encompasses systems…

What is Biased Data? Biased data is any set of information used to train an AI model that does not accurately or proportionately represent the real-world population, context, or truth relevant to the problem the AI is designed to solve….

What is Brand Voice? Brand voice is the distinct personality, tone, and set of values a brand consistently uses in all its communications to connect with its audience. Brand voice is the uniform expression of a company’s personality and values…

What is Canva’s Magic Studio? Canva’s Magic Studio is a comprehensive suite of Generative AI tools integrated directly into the Canva design platform, providing users with one-click automation for tasks like image generation, background removal, template creation, and text writing…

What is Chain-of-Thought Prompting? Chain-of-Thought (CoT) prompting is an advanced prompting technique where a user explicitly instructs a large language model (LLM) to show its step-by-step reasoning before providing the final answer, significantly improving the quality and accuracy of complex,…

What is ChatGPT? ChatGPT is a popular generative AI tool, created by OpenAI, that allows you to have human-like conversations and get help with tasks like writing, brainstorming, and coding. ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is a conversational AI application…

What is ChatGPT 4o? ChatGPT 4o is the current flagship multimodal Artificial Intelligence model from OpenAI, distinguished by its “omni” capabilities to natively process and generate content across text, image, and audio inputs in real-time. The Authoritative Definition (The “Lexicographer…

What is Claude? Claude is a powerful generative AI assistant, created by the company Anthropic, known for its strong safety features and its ability to process very large documents. Claude is a family of Large Language Models (LLMs) developed by…

What are Claude Projects? Claude Projects are a feature from the AI company Anthropic that allows users to create persistent, context-aware workspaces where the AI assistant, Claude, can handle complex, multi-step tasks. Unlike single-chat sessions, a “Project” in Claude acts…

What is a Cognitive Task? A cognitive task is any activity that requires mental effort, such as thinking, learning, remembering, reasoning, perceiving, problem-solving, or decision-making, making it the category of human work that modern AI systems are designed to augment…

What are Content Pillars? Content Pillars are the 3-5 core themes or strategic topics that your business consistently talks about in your marketing to demonstrate authority and provide value to your audience. Instead of creating random, disconnected content, a pillar…

What is Content Repurposing? Content repurposing is the practice of taking one core piece of content and transforming its format to serve a different purpose or reach a different audience on another platform. At its heart, content repurposing is the…

What is a Context Window? An AI’s context window is its short-term memory; the limited amount of text (both your input and its output) that it can consider at one time when generating a response. The context window, also called…

What is a Conversational AI Tool? A conversational AI tool is an application designed to simulate human-like conversation through text or speech, allowing users to interact with an AI system using natural language. These tools, which include chatbots, virtual assistants,…

What are Custom Instructions? Custom Instructions are a feature in ChatGPT that allows you to save specific information and guidelines that the AI will remember and apply across all of your future conversations. Custom Instructions act as a permanent memory…

What is Data Bias? Data bias is the systematic tendency of data used to train an AI model to disproportionately reflect or favour specific values, outcomes, or demographic groups, resulting in skewed and unfair results when the model is put…

What is Data Storytelling? Data storytelling is the process of translating data analysis into a clear, compelling narrative that influences and informs business decisions. Data storytelling is a structured approach for communicating data-driven insights. It involves a combination of three…

What are Deepfakes? Deepfakes are synthetic media—primarily video or audio—that have been manipulated or entirely generated by deep learning artificial intelligence to convincingly portray a person saying or doing something they never actually did. The term Deepfakes is a portmanteau…

What is Email Personalization? Email Personalization is the marketing practice of using subscriber data to tailor email content and messaging to the specific interests and characteristics of each individual recipient. This strategy moves beyond sending a single, generic message to…

What are Embeddings? An embedding is a numerical representation (a list of numbers, also called a vector) that captures the complex conceptual meaning and relationships of data like words, sentences, or images, allowing AI models to understand their context. In…

What is Few-shot Prompting? Few-shot prompting is an advanced prompting technique where the user provides a small number of complete examples (typically 1 to 5) of the desired input-output behaviour within the prompt itself to teach the model a new…

What is AI Fine-Tuning? Fine-tuning is the process of taking a pre-trained large language model and providing it with additional, specific training on your own data to make it an expert in a particular domain or on your specific brand…

What is a Gem? (Custom AI Assistant) A Gem is Google’s version of a custom AI assistant, allowing users to create a personalized and reusable version of the Gemini model for specific tasks. Similar to OpenAI’s GPTs, a Gem is…

What is Gemini? Gemini is Google’s family of generative AI models and the name of its conversational AI tool, which is deeply integrated with Google’s search engine and apps. Gemini represents Google’s flagship line of multimodal AI models, replacing previous…

What is Generative AI? Generative AI is a category of artificial intelligence that can create new and original content—including text, images, audio, and code—based on the data it was trained on. Unlike other forms of AI that are designed to…

In the context of ChatGPT, a GPT is a user-created, customized version of the AI model that has been tailored for a specific task, role, or set of knowledge. A GPT, often called a “custom GPT,” is a specialized AI…

What is an AI Hallucination? An AI hallucination is an instance where a large language model generates information that is factually incorrect, nonsensical, or entirely fabricated, yet presents it with complete confidence. Hallucinations occur because generative AI models, at their…

What is the Human-in-the-loop (HITL) Approach? The Human-in-the-loop (HITL) approach is an artificial intelligence strategy that mandates human oversight and intervention at specific, non-negotiable points within an automated process to ensure accuracy, safety, and ethical compliance. This approach is a…

Image Generation What is AI Image Generation? AI image generation is a category of Generative AI that uses advanced machine learning models, primarily diffusion models, to create novel visual content—ranging from photorealistic images to abstract art—based solely on a natural…

What is Image Recognition? Image recognition is a field of artificial intelligence that trains computers to identify and interpret objects, people, places, and actions within digital images and videos. Image recognition is a form of computer vision that allows AI…

What is Interpersonal Harm? Interpersonal harm is a specific type of social harm caused by AI systems that affects individual relationships, groups, or communities through acts like defamation, harassment, erosion of trust, manipulation, or discrimination. This category of harm is…

What is Knowledge Cutoff? Knowledge cutoff is the date after which a Large Language Model (LLM) or a generative AI model has not been trained on any new data, resulting in a fixed limit to the model’s understanding of real-world…

What is a Large Language Model (LLM)? A Large Language Model (LLM) is a type of artificial intelligence that has been trained on a massive amount of text data to understand, generate, and respond to human language. A Large Language…

What is Machine Learning (ML)? Machine Learning (ML) is a subfield of Artificial Intelligence (AI) focused on building algorithms that allow computer systems to automatically learn from data, identify patterns, and make decisions or predictions without being explicitly programmed for…

What is Midjourney? Midjourney is a proprietary, text-to-image Generative AI platform renowned for producing highly stylized, complex, and artistic visual content from simple natural language prompts, often prioritizing aesthetic quality over raw photorealism. The Authoritative Definition (The “Lexicographer Voice”) Midjourney…

What is a Multimodal Model? A multimodal model is a single artificial intelligence model that can process, understand, and generate output from multiple types of data inputs, such as text, images, audio, and video, simultaneously. Historically, AI systems were unimodal—a…

What is Nanobanana? Nanobanana is the official brand name for Google’s advanced image generation and editing feature update within the Gemini application. While its underlying model is officially known as Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, the name “Nanobanana” originated as an…

What is Natural Language? Natural language refers to the language that humans speak, read, and write in everyday communication, such as English, French, Spanish, or Mandarin, and is the primary means by which humans interact with Large Language Models (LLMs)….

What is Net Promoter Score (NPS)? Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a widely used metric that measures customer loyalty and satisfaction by asking a single, direct question: “On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our organization/product/service…

What is One-shot Prompting? One-shot prompting is an advanced technique where the user provides exactly one complete example of the desired input-output behavior within the prompt itself to quickly teach the Large Language Model (LLM) a new format, tone, or…

What is an Open Dataset? An open dataset is a collection of structured information (data) that is freely available for anyone to access, use, modify, and share for any purpose, often without legal or technical restrictions. These datasets are typically…

What is PIPEDA? PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) is the Canadian federal privacy law that governs how private-sector organizations collect, use, and disclose personal information in the course of commercial activities. The Personal Information Protection and Electronic…

What is Privacy (in the Context of AI)? Privacy, in the context of AI, refers to the policies, mechanisms, and legal frameworks designed to govern the collection, storage, processing, and use of personally identifiable information (PII) to prevent unauthorized access,…

What is a Prompt? A prompt is a specific instruction, question, or piece of text you give to a generative AI model to command it to perform a task or generate a particular output. A prompt is the primary way…

What is Prompt Chaining? Prompt chaining is the technique of breaking down a complex task into a series of smaller, interconnected prompts where the output of one prompt becomes the input for the next. Prompt Chaining is a structured method…

What is Prompt Engineering? Prompt engineering is the skill of strategically designing and refining your input (a prompt) to guide a generative AI model toward producing the most accurate, relevant, and useful output. Prompt engineering is the art and science…

What are Psychographics? Psychographics are the qualitative attributes of an audience, focusing on their values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles to understand their motivations and why they make certain choices. Psychographics go beyond the “who” of demographics (age, income, location) to…

What is Qualitative Data? Qualitative data is non-numerical information that describes qualities or characteristics, often collected through interviews, open-ended survey questions, and observations. Qualitative data, also known as categorical data, provides the context and narrative that numbers alone cannot. While…

What is Quality-of-service Harm? Quality-of-service harm is a category of social harm that occurs when an AI system performs its intended function, but does so poorly, inconsistently, or unreliably for specific groups of users, leading to substandard outcomes or denial…

What is Representational Harm? Representational harm is a specific category of social harm where an AI system reinforces harmful stereotypes, creates cultural insensitivity, or unfairly subordinates specific social groups through the way it portrays or speaks about them. This type…

What is Responsible AI? Responsible AI is an organizational framework encompassing the practices, policies, and tools necessary to design, develop, and deploy artificial intelligence systems that are transparent, fair, trustworthy, accountable, and legally compliant. This concept shifts the focus from…

What is Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)? Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) is an AI technique that connects a general-purpose Large Language Model (LLM) to a private, trusted source of information (like your company’s data) to provide answers that are more accurate, current, and…

What is Return on Investment (ROI)? Return on Investment (ROI) is a performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency or profitability of an investment by comparing its net benefit to its cost. Return on Investment is a fundamental business metric…

What is Security (in the Context of AI)? Security, in the context of AI, refers to the defensive measures taken to protect the entire AI ecosystem—including the training data, the AI model, the API connections, and the user-facing tools—from cyberattacks,…

What is Sentiment Analysis? Sentiment analysis is the process of using artificial intelligence to automatically identify and categorize opinions expressed in text to determine whether the writer’s attitude is positive, negative, or neutral. Sentiment analysis, also known as opinion mining,…

What is Social System Harm? Social system harm is a high-level category of harm caused by AI systems that creates negative, wide-reaching impacts on collective society, culture, democracy, or economic stability, rather than targeting specific individuals. This broad term encompasses…

What is a System Prompt? A system prompt is a set of core instructions given to an AI model that defines its persona, rules, and constraints before it ever interacts with a user’s prompt. The system prompt is the foundational,…

What is Systemic Bias? Systemic bias is the unfair and inherent prejudice embedded within the design, training data, or deployment of an AI system that consistently and unjustly disadvantages specific, protected social groups over time. While data bias is the…

The TCREI Framework is a five-step prompting system—Task, Context, Rules, Example, and Iteration—designed to get consistent, high-quality results from a Large Language Model (LLM). The TCREI Framework is a repeatable workflow developed by the Canadian AI Guy to structure prompts…

What is a Token? A token is the basic unit of text that a large language model uses to process and generate language. In the context of artificial intelligence, a token is a piece of a word. Large Language Models…

What is a Training Set? A training set is the initial, large collection of pre-processed, labeled data that is fed into a machine learning algorithm to teach the AI model the patterns, relationships, and concepts necessary to perform a specific…

What is Transparency (in the Context of AI)? Transparency, in the context of AI, refers to the practice of providing clear, understandable, and accessible information about how an AI system functions, what data it was trained on, and the logic…

What is a Vanity Metric? A vanity metric is a measurement that looks impressive on the surface but doesn’t actually help you understand business performance or make decisions. A vanity metric is a data point that can be easily manipulated…

What is a Vector Database? A vector database is a specialized database designed to store, manage, and search unstructured data (like text or images) based on its conceptual meaning and similarity, rather than by exact keywords or tags. Unlike a…

What is Virtual Staff Augmentation? Virtual staff augmentation is the strategic use of external tools or services—in this case, AI—to add specific skills and capabilities to your team without hiring new full-time employees. Traditionally, staff augmentation refers to bringing in…

What is Zero-Shot Prompting? Zero-shot prompting is the technique of asking a large language model to perform a task that it has not been explicitly trained to do, without providing it with any examples first. This ability is one of…