Artificial intelligence (AI)
Artificial intelligence is the broad name for computer systems that do tasks we normally associate with human thinking: recognising speech, translating, spotting patterns, answering questions or making predictions. Today's AI does not think like a person; it learns statistical patterns from large amounts of data.
In one line, for a 12-year-old
AI is software that has learned from lots of examples so it can guess good answers, a bit like a very fast pattern-spotter.
An example
Your phone's keyboard suggesting the next word, a bank flagging an unusual card payment and a map app predicting traffic are all everyday AI.
Why it matters to people
AI now helps decide what you see online, which job applications get read and how public services work. Knowing what it is, and isn't, helps you ask the right questions about fairness, privacy and who is accountable.