Vocabulary & Definitions
This term describes an AI system's ability to interpret and respond to human language.
What is Natural Language Processing (NLP)?
A step-by-step set of instructions that tells a computer exactly how to perform a specific task, like sorting numbers from smallest to largest.
What is an Algorithm?
When an AI system produces systematically unfair outcomes because it was trained on incomplete or skewed data.
What is Bias in AI?
An AI tool that composes a completely original poem about autumn that has never existed before is an example of what type of AI?
What is Generative AI?
The AI field that focuses specifically on enabling machines to interpret images and video.
What is Computer Vision?
A rural school district cannot give students hands-on practice with AI tools because the school has no reliable high-speed internet connection. What is this an example of?
What is the Digital Divide?
A video that appears to show a celebrity saying something they never actually said, created using AI face and voice mapping.
What is a Deepfake?
The type of data fed into an AI system so it can learn patterns, like thousands of sample essays used to teach what a well-organized five-paragraph essay looks like.
What is Training Data?
A voice-to-text app consistently fails to transcribe speech correctly for people who use regional dialects because its dataset mostly contained one accent. This is an example of what?
What is Training Data Bias?
A model trained on massive amounts of internet text that can write essays, answer questions, and hold conversations across nearly any topic.
What is a Large Language Model (LLM)?
A city traffic department installs cameras that automatically read license plates and flag unpaid tolls without human review. This is an example of what?
What is Automation?
In what field other than writing or research is AI used to help interpret X-rays and CT scans to detect diseases?
What is Healthcare?
The process of rewriting a vague request into a detailed one that specifies the AI's role, intended audience, format, and tone.
What is Prompt Engineering?
A layered system of connected nodes loosely modeled on how brain cells connect, allowing an image-recognition app to improve as it processes more images.
What is a Neural Network?
In the Smart Hiring Assistant scenario, the AI downgraded resumes with employment gaps disproportionately affecting women, and scored HBCU graduates lower. What underlying issue caused this?
What is the model treating employment gaps and educational background as negative signals based only on patterns in past data, without contextual understanding?
A nonprofit uses an AI chatbot to draft grant proposal outlines but verifies every fact against original sources before submission. What responsible practice does this represent?
What is fact-checking that guards against hallucination? (or: Responsible AI use / Human oversight)
A factory replaces a worker who sorted packages by hand with a robotic arm and sensor system that performs the same task around the clock. This is an example of what?
What is Automation?
A student sees a video circulating online that appears to show a well-known athlete announcing a sudden retirement, but no sports outlet has reported it. What should the student do first?
What is it may be a deepfake, and verify it through a trusted news source before sharing it?
When an AI confidently provides false information as if it were fact, like telling a student the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1875.
What is a Hallucination?
The subset of AI that allows systems to improve their performance over time by learning from data and experience, rather than being reprogrammed each time.
What is Machine Learning?
The ongoing work needed to make an AI tool's outcomes match an organization's actual intention—like adding safety checks and human feedback loops to a medical AI tool.
What is AI Alignment?
Which combination of strategies would most likely reduce hallucinations when asking an AI to summarize a scientific article?
What is providing the source text directly and instructing the AI to cite only what appears in that text?
Which scenario best demonstrates automation rather than a purely generative AI task: (A) An AI writing an original short story, (B) A conveyor-belt sorting system that packages orders without human operators, (C) An AI generating concept art, or (D) A tool composing background music?
What is a conveyor-belt sorting system that packages orders without human operators?
Name two ways AI is used in fields such as agriculture, transportation, accessibility, or manufacturing. Explain how the AI functions and who b
(1) Agriculture - crop forecasting predicts yields; farmers benefit. (2) Transportation - autonomous vehicles navigate roads; passengers/society benefit. (3) Manufacturing - quality control detects defects; manufacturers and consumers benefit. (4) Accessibility - text-to-speech converts written content; visually impaired users benefit.
The broad field of computer science focused on building machines capable of tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as reasoning or problem-solving.
What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
A type of machine learning with many layered stages of pattern recognition that allows a self-driving car to identify a stop sign in fog, rain, or bright sunlight.
What is Deep Learning?
Explain how biased or incomplete training data can create a cycle that leads to discriminatory algorithms. Give one example.
Biased training data teaches the algorithm to recognize and reproduce unfair patterns as if they predict actual performance. Example: A hiring tool trained on ten years of already-hired employees learns to favor resumes matching those historical hires, perpetuating past discrimination based on gender, race, or educational background.
A customer service chatbot struggles to answer highly technical warranty questions accurately. Why is this most likely happening?
What is the training data likely did not include enough of that specific technical content?
A rideshare app estimates arrival time using a fixed set of steps that never change, even as new traffic patterns emerge. What concept is missing that would let the estimate improve automatically over time?
What is Machine Learning?
A community loses access to a helpful AI-powered mental health chatbot because the service requires high-speed internet the community does not have. Explain which two concepts are most directly connected to this scenario and why.
What is the Digital Divide and AI Alignment? The Digital Divide explains unequal access to technology; AI Alignment relates to ensuring the tool's deployment matches the goal of equitable mental health support for all communities.