What AI is, and what it isn't

When people say "AI" today, they usually mean chat tools that answer what you type with written replies: Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and the like. This article explains what they are, what they do well and what they can't do, without the jargon.

How does it work?

Behind these tools is a system called a language model. It has learned how language fits together by reading an enormous amount of text. When you write to it, it produces the most fitting continuation, word by word.

So a model doesn't look facts up like an encyclopedia; it builds each answer from scratch. That's why asking the same question twice can give you two different answers.

What it does well

• First drafts: emails, product descriptions, social media captions, proposals. It saves you from the blank page.
• Summarising: condensing a long article, meeting notes or a document, or breaking it into points.
• Editing and reshaping: simplifying a text, changing its tone, translating it.
• Ideas: producing many options for names, slogans or campaign ideas.
• Explaining: putting a topic you don't understand, a contract clause or an error message into plain words.

What it isn't

It isn't always right. A model can state something it doesn't know in the same confident tone as something it does. It can invent a figure, a date, a source or a name. Always check important information somewhere else.

It may not be up to date. A model's knowledge stops at the point it was trained. Some tools can search the web; if they don't, they may not know about recent events.

It doesn't know you. Unless you tell it about your business, your customers and your style, it can't know them. A general question gets a general answer; the more context you give, the better the answer fits. We cover this in how to write a good prompt.

It doesn't make decisions for you. It can offer a view on legal, financial or health matters, but it doesn't replace an expert.

Mind your data

What you type goes to the tool's servers. Before pasting customers' personal details, passwords or confidential documents, check the privacy settings of the tool you use.

Where to start

Start with something small that repeats: an email you write every week, or the description you write for every product. Check the result every time. AI speeds up the work; you still have the final say.