Prompt -The instruction or question you give an AI.
Token – The smallest unit of text an AI model processes (roughly three-quarters of a word).
LLM (Large Language Model) – The type of AI behind ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Llama
Hallucination – When an AI confidently gives false or invented information.
Temperature – A setting (0'1 or 0'2) that controls how creative vs. predictable the AI is. Low = factual and focused; High = more imaginative (good for brainstorming).
Fine-tuning – Training an AI on your specific data or style so it sounds like you or your company. Companies now fine-tune models on internal docs for brand voice. |
Agent – An AI that can take actions on its own (book appointments, send emails, run code).
Multimodal – AI that handles text + images + audio + video (GPT-4, Gemini 1.5, Claude 3). Upload a photo of a skin rash or a spreadsheet and get analysis.
Context window – How much text the AI can remember in one conversation (128k or 1M tokens).
Chain-of-thought – Telling the AI to, think step by step' to get better reasoning. Dramatically improves math, logic, and planning.
Guardrails – Rules built into an AI to prevent harmful, biased, or off-brand outputs.
Inference – The actual running of the AI to generate answers (training it).
Mode – The actual AI brain (GPT-4, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Gemini 1.5 Pro, Grok-2). People now compare AIs the same way we compare car engines.
Rick Good spent ten years in the newspaper business, including with The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Greenville News (Greenville, SC). He co-wrote, with Melinda Coleman, Rutledge to Riley: Governors of South Carolina, 1776–Present (Published by The Greenville News), and is the author of Mind Games Trivia #1 (Amazon). He has recently spent 15 years creating original trivia content through Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment and continues that with his new company, SGME Software. He edits The Smart Reader’s money, real estate, and business coverage.
