What Is AI?
Understanding the term that is on everyone's lips — and what it actually means for your work.
You have heard "AI" everywhere — in news headlines, product pitches, and Brickfield conversations. But what does it actually mean?
AI refers to computer systems that can perform tasks that normally require human intelligence — such as understanding language, recognising patterns, making decisions, or generating content.
A calculator does arithmetic. AI thinks, reasons, and creates — to varying degrees and with important limitations.AI is not new
AI has been developing for decades. What changed recently is that it became dramatically more capable and broadly accessible. The following timeline shows the key stages.
1950s to 1980s — The early days
Researchers built rule-based systems. Computers could follow instructions but not adapt or learn. Chess programmes and early speech recognition were the main results.
1990s to 2010s — Machine learning takes over
Instead of writing every rule by hand, engineers fed computers large amounts of data and let them find patterns. Spam filters, Netflix recommendations, and Google Search all use this approach.
2017 to 2022 — The Transformer revolution
A new architecture called Transformers made AI dramatically better at understanding language. This led directly to tools like GPT-3 and DALL-E.
2022 to present — The accessible AI era
ChatGPT launched in November 2022 and reached 100 million users in 60 days. AI moved from research labs to everyday tools. This is where we are now.
Three types of AI you will encounter
Most of the AI you meet in the workplace falls into one of the following three categories.
Narrow AI
Designed to do one thing very well. Your spam filter, Spotify's recommendations, and facial recognition on your phone are all examples of narrow AI.
Generative AI
AI that can create new content — text, images, code, or audio. ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are generative AI tools. This is what this course focuses on.
AGI (theoretical)
Artificial General Intelligence — AI as capable as a human across every task. This does not exist yet. Current AI tools are far from this stage, despite how they can sometimes appear.
What AI is not
It is not a database you are querying. It is not always correct. It does not "know" things — it generates plausible responses based on patterns. It does not have opinions, feelings, or consciousness. These distinctions matter when you use it at work.
Knowledge check
Which best describes what "AI" means today in tools like ChatGPT or Gemini?