What is AI? AI is short for artificial intelligence. It is machines and computer programs that can copy smart things that people do. They can make guesses and pick what to do. AI helps phones know the words that people say out loud.

How does AI learn? Many kinds of AI learn by looking at lots of examples. One kind is a picture that people have labeled as a dog. What an AI learns from is called training data. People usually give an AI its examples.

An AI usually needs a very large amount of training data to work well. A spam filter sorts out junk email. Many of them learn how from examples. Some apps use AI to change words from one language into another.

An AI does not think the way a person does. AI can make mistakes and can say things that are not true. It can be wrong even when it sounds sure. Sounding sure is not proof. People should check what an AI tells them before they trust it.

Words to know

• AI: smart machines
• examples: learning samples
• labeled: named by people
• spam: junk email