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Generative AI

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Illustration showing how discriminative and generative neural networks work in AI — one recognizes images, while the other creates them from text.

What is Generative AI?

Generative AI is a special kind of artificial intelligence. It helps computers make new things like images, videos, audio, and even software code. Imagine asking a computer to draw a picture of a dragon, and it creates one just for you! That’s what generative AI can do.

Computers learn from lots of information. Then, when you give them a small hint, they use what they learned to make something brand new. This makes it very fun and easy to create art, stories, and more.

Popular Tools and Uses

Some well-known generative AI tools are chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude. There are also programs that turn words into pictures, such as DALL-E and Midjourney. People use these tools in many places. Doctors use them to help find new medicines. Artists use them to make beautiful visual art. Businesses use them to write reports faster.

Why People Know About It

Generative AI became very popular in the 2020s because it got much better. It can now make things that look just like they were made by a person. This helps everyone create amazing new works. For example, an image made with Midjourney named “Théâtre D'opéra Spatial” even won a prize at an art competition!

How It Works

Generative AI learns by looking at lots of examples. It’s like how you learn from books and games. Then it uses that knowledge to make new things. Some smaller tools can run on smartphones or personal computers. Bigger tools need stronger computers or special internet services.

Generative AI is exciting because it helps people be more creative. Just remember, it’s always good to know when something is made by a computer, so we can trust the information we see.

Images

This chart shows how AI has improved over the years in creating realistic faces, starting from simple pixel images to detailed, lifelike pictures.
A chart showing how money invested in AI and generative AI has changed over time, from Stanford University's 2024 AI index.
Diagram showing how a smart computer program works using language and other tools.
Illustration explaining the GANS technique, a method used in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
A comparison of images created by two different artificial intelligence techniques — VAE and GAN — showing how each generates visual patterns.
Diagram showing the structure of a generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) model.
Chart showing how much energy a ChatGPT question uses compared to everyday electricity use

Related articles

Artificial intelligence
Digital image
Digital video
Digital audio
Software code
Chatbots

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Generative AI, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Tap any image to view credits and license.