If you’ve been hearing AI terms like GPT, LLM, or AI agents — and your honest reaction is, “Okay… I keep seeing these everywhere, but what do they actually mean?” — you’re not alone.
A lot of smart people feel the same way.
And it’s surprisingly easy to feel like everyone else “gets it” except you.
This guide fixes that.
No jargon. No tech lecture. And definitely no judgment. Just simple, plain-English explanations that make all these terms make sense — so you can finally follow the conversations happening around AI without feeling lost.
Let’s jump in.
The AI terms you see everywhere
GPT
GPT stands for generative pre-trained transformer. Sounds intense, but the idea is simple: it’s the “AI brain” behind ChatGPT.
When you type something into ChatGPT, GPT is what:
- reads your message
- figures out what you’re asking
- generates a helpful response
Think of GPT as the engine powering the whole experience.
Custom GPT
These are your own personalized mini-assistants inside ChatGPT.
You give them instructions, examples, and rules. They learn your preferences and become far better at one specific task — whether that’s drafting emails, rewriting social posts, analyzing data, or helping you plan your week.
It’s like having a tiny specialist inside ChatGPT that works exactly the way you want it to.
Multimodal
“Multimodal” means the AI can work with more than just text.
It can understand:
- what you type
- images you upload
- the audio you speak out loud
For example, you can upload a photo and ask ChatGPT to describe it. Or talk to it using your voice instead of typing.
Please note: As of right now, you can’t upload video or MP3 audio files and have ChatGPT analyze them. “Audio input” means speaking to AI in real time, not uploading audio or video files.
AI agents
An AI agent is different from a basic chatbot. It doesn’t just answer your question — it takes multiple steps to complete a task.
For example, an AI agent could:
- research a topic
- pull in information from several sources
- organize the details
- summarize everything
- then turn it into an email or report
Agents are essentially multitasking AI assistants, and you’ll start seeing them more often as the technology matures.
A simple foundation: AI, machine learning, and LLMs
Before going deeper, here’s the foundation that helps everything else make sense.
Artificial intelligence
AI is software that can understand, reason, or generate things in a way that feels similar to how a human would.
Traditional software follows fixed rules:
“If you click this, then do that.”
AI doesn’t simply follow rules — it learns. It recognizes patterns, makes decisions, and generates new responses it was never explicitly programmed with. That’s why AI feels more flexible and conversational.
Machine learning
Machine learning is how AI gets those abilities.
Instead of being hand-coded line by line, the AI learns from examples — millions or billions of them. It studies patterns in the data and uses those patterns to predict, generate, or respond.
That’s why AI can write, summarize, translate, or answer questions so naturally.
LLM (large language model)
An LLM is the technical name for AI that works with text.
It’s trained on massive amounts of written content and becomes extremely good at:
- understanding language
- following instructions
- generating human-like responses
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini — they’re all powered by LLMs.
Everyday AI terms you’ll run into constantly
Chatbot / AI assistant
This is the general term for the thing you’re talking to when you use ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Perplexity.
You ask a question.
It answers.
That back-and-forth is the chatbot experience.
And now, we’re seeing AI assistants show up on websites. Not the old clunky chat widgets that could only give you six canned replies. Real AI chatbots can be trained on your business — your services, FAQs, tone, and boundaries — so they can help visitors in real time.
Prompt
Your prompt is simply what you type or say to the AI. It’s your request.
It could be:
- a question
- an instruction
- a description
- rough notes you want refined
- an idea you want expanded
If you've ever typed something into ChatGPT, that was your prompt.
Prompt engineering
Prompt engineering is the skill of giving the AI clearer direction so you get better results.
You’re still just prompting the AI — but with a little more intention. That might mean:
- adding helpful details
- giving one or more examples
- telling the AI how you want the response formatted
You don’t need to be an expert to do prompt engineering. You're simply learning how to guide the AI so it hits the target more reliably.
AI capabilities you’ve probably seen (or will soon)
Voice mode
Instead of typing into ChatGPT, you talk to it out loud — and it talks back to you in real time. It feels closer to a natural conversation.
If you're using ChatGPT, just tap the small icon in the prompt box. The app switches into a different screen where you’re suddenly talking back and forth, almost like you're on a call with it.
The first time you try it, it feels a bit wild — in a good way. 😀
Voice cloning
Voice cloning is when AI analyzes a recording of someone’s voice and generates new speech that sounds like that person.
Tools like ElevenLabs are extremely advanced in this area.
You don’t even have to clone a real person — most platforms offer libraries of pre-made voices. Many creators use these for tutorials, narration, or voiceovers without recording anything themselves.
Image generation
Instead of digging through hundreds of stock photos, you can type a description and the AI will generate an image that matches what you want.
Tools like MidJourney, Canva’s DreamLab, and even ChatGPT can create detailed images based solely on your prompt.
It’s great for:
- brainstorming
- thumbnails
- graphics
- mockups
- or just exploring ideas visually
Text-to-video
This is exactly what it sounds like: you type a description, and the AI generates a short video.
It’s early technology, but it’s moving fast. Tools like Runway, Google’s Veo, and OpenAI’s Sora are already creating surprisingly realistic videos.
You’re going to hear much more about text-to-video in the months ahead.
Behind the scenes: the technical terms that aren’t actually technical
These terms sound intimidating at first, but they're simple once you see what they mean.
API
API stands for application programming interface, which is a fancy way of saying:
“Two tools can talk to each other.”
That’s it.
If you’ve clicked a button like:
- Connect with Stripe
- Connect with Google
- Connect with Zapier
…you’ve used an API.
An API is the bridge that lets one system send information to another.
Guardrails (or Safety)
Guardrails are the limits the AI operates within so it doesn’t do anything harmful, inappropriate, or off-purpose.
For example, when I build an AI chatbot for a business website, I set guardrails for things like:
- profanity
- inappropriate questions
- topics the bot shouldn’t touch
These boundaries keep the AI helpful — but also aligned with what it’s meant to do.
Model
You’ve seen names like GPT-4, GPT-5.1, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Gemini 1.5, Grok 1.5.
Those are models.
The model is the underlying AI engine responsible for generating the responses you get. Newer models are usually faster, more accurate, and more capable.
The AI ecosystem — who makes what
OpenAI → ChatGPT
Models: GPT-4, GPT-5.1, etc.
Anthropic → Claude
Models: Claude Sonnet, Claude Opus.
Google → Gemini
Formerly called Bard. You’ll see Gemini woven into Gmail, Docs, Search, and Android.
xAI (Elon Musk) → Grok
Built directly into the X platform (formerly Twitter).
Perplexity → AI-powered search
Think of it as “Google, but clearer and focused on answers instead of links.”
These five are the names you’ll likely run into the most right now.
Final thoughts
Once you understand these terms, the whole topic of AI stops feeling mysterious or intimidating. Suddenly, all the conversations you see online or hear in real life start clicking into place.
You don’t need to be a tech person to understand AI.
You just need someone to break it down in plain English.
And now that the core terms make sense, you’re going to feel much more confident navigating the tools that are shaping modern business.
