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Glossary

What is Generative AI?

AI that creates new content such as text, images, audio, video or code from a prompt, rather than only analysing existing data.

In plain words

Generative AI produces new material: a paragraph, an image, a piece of music, a summary, a block of code. You describe what you want in a prompt, and the model creates it. Older AI mostly analysed data, such as deciding whether a transaction was fraud. Generative AI makes things.

What it can generate

  • Text: drafts, summaries, translations, answers
  • Images and design variations
  • Audio and voice
  • Video
  • Computer code

Business uses that tend to work

  • A first draft that a person edits, saving time on routine writing
  • Summarising long documents or conversations
  • Support replies drafted from approved help content
  • Producing many variations of marketing material for people to choose from
  • Helping developers with routine code

Things to be careful about

  • Generated content can be wrong, so facts need checking (see AI hallucination)
  • Ownership and copyright of generated material is still being settled, and rules differ by country
  • Anything you paste into an outside service may leave your control
  • Content that looks professional is not the same as content that is true or original

Common mistakes

  • Publishing generated text with no human check
  • Using it for decisions about people without review
  • Expecting it to know your products and policies without giving it your documents (see RAG)
  • Measuring success by how impressive the demo looks

Questions to ask a company that offers this

  1. What will be generated, and who reviews it before it reaches a customer?
  2. Where does our content go when we use the service, and is it used for training?
  3. Who owns what is generated, and what do your contract terms say about it?
  4. How will you reduce wrong or invented statements?
  5. What will it cost at our expected volume?

A good company will answer these plainly and in writing. Vague or evasive answers are worth noting.

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Explanation last read through on 13 October 2026. It is general guidance in plain language, not advice for your particular project. Tell us if something is wrong or unclear.