by Databricks Staff
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science that lets machines perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, like learning, reasoning, problem-solving, recognizing patterns and making decisions. Put more simply, AI is software that learns from data and uses what it learns to make predictions, decisions or new content without being explicitly programmed for each task.
Today’s AI runs everything from spam filters and recommendation engines to chatbots like ChatGPT and image generators. It draws on a range of techniques, most notably machine learning and generative AI, and it has moved from research labs into products people use every day.
Stanford computer scientist Fei-Fei Li, writing in the Stanford Emerging Technology Review, places AI in the same category as the most transformative technologies in modern history: “AI is a foundational technology that is advancing other scientific fields and, like electricity and the internet, has the potential to transform how society operates.” Adoption is now scaling across every sector, from healthcare and financial services to retail and manufacturing, and the pace is accelerating.
This page covers how AI works, the main types of AI, real-world examples, the limitations to watch for and a brief history of the field.
