Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to computer systems designed to perform tasks that typically require human cognitive abilities, such as perception, prediction, language understanding, or decision support.

AI is software that can do useful “smart” tasks—spotting patterns, answering questions, or recommending actions—without being hand-coded for every case.

AI systems combine algorithms, data, and compute to approximate cognitive tasks. Classical AI emphasized symbolic rules; modern practice is dominated by statistical machine learning and deep learning, often deployed as products with retrieval, tools, and governance layers.

AI is the umbrella category buyers, regulators, and researchers use when comparing automation that learns or reasons. Clear definitions help separate marketing labels from concrete capabilities tracked elsewhere in Brel’s knowledge graph.

• Prediction and ranking in business systems
• Language and vision products
• Decision support and automation workflows

• Scales pattern recognition beyond manual review
• Enables new product interfaces (assistants, copilots)
• Supports measurement and forecasting at volume

• Quality depends on data, evaluation, and operational controls
• Can fail silently under distribution shift
• “AI” as a label is too broad for procurement without narrower tags

• AI is not synonymous with consciousness or general human intelligence
• High accuracy on a benchmark does not guarantee safe production use
• Not every automation problem needs a large generative model

Is machine learning the same as AI?

Machine learning is the dominant modern approach inside AI, but AI also historically included rule-based and search methods. On Brel, narrower tags (ML, LLMs, computer vision) are preferred when evidence supports them.

Where should I start in this glossary?

Begin with Machine Learning, Generative AI, and Large Language Models, then follow related terms linked on each hub.

• NIST AI Risk Management Framework
• European Commission — AI Act overview

• Russell & Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (textbook reference)