annual: Adjective for something that happens every year. (in botany) A plant that lives only one year, so it usually has a showy flower and produces many seeds.
chatbot: A computer program created to seemingly converse with human users. Modern ones (such as Siri, Alexa, Ocelot and Sprinklr) can retrieve information over the internet about news events or classroom topics. Many even work as digital assistants to answer questions about purchases, products or scheduling on behalf of stores, pharmacies or banks.
commercial: An adjective for something that is ready for sale or already being sold. Commercial goods are those caught or produced for others, and not solely for personal consumption.
development: (in engineering) The growth or change of something from an idea to a prototype.
engineering: The field of research that uses math and science to solve practical problems. Someone who works in this field is known as an engineer.
erode: Gradual removal of soil or stone, caused by the flow of water or the movement of winds.
false positive: In statistics, a conclusion — based on the data — that a difference exists between two or more conditions being tested, when in fact none exists.
generative AI: A class of artificial-intelligence models that use deep learning and neural networks to generate — create — texts, pictures, audio, computer code or video in response to a user’s request.
high school: A designation for grades nine through 12 in the U.S. system of compulsory public education. High-school graduates may apply to colleges for further, advanced education.
innovation: (v. to innovate; adj. innovative) An adaptation or improvement to an existing idea, process or product that is new, clever, more effective or more practical.
jargon: Special words or phrases used by one group — such as athletes, scientists, musicians, soldiers or computer programmers — that can be difficult for people outside that group to understand. As an example, many scientists who study the brain know what someone means when they say “ventral preoptic area,” but those who do not study the brain may find the term meaningless. It’s important for scientists to avoid using jargon when they explain their work to people who are not in their field.
machine learning: A technique in computer science that allows computers to learn from examples or experience. Machine learning is the basis of some forms of artificial intelligence (AI). For instance, a machine-learning system might compare X-rays of lung tissue in people with cancer and then compare these to whether and how long a patient survived after being given a particular treatment. In the future, that AI system might be able to look at a new patient’s lung scans and predict how well they will respond to a treatment.
model: A simulation of a real-world event (usually using a computer) that has been developed to predict one or more likely outcomes. Or an individual that is meant to display how something would work in or look on others.
prompts: (in artificial intelligence) The requests that a user makes, telling an artificial-intelligence model specifically what it wants the bot to do. For instance, the prompt might be: Rewrite the Night Before Christmas poem as a rapper might perform it. Or: Create a video of a black cat wearing a beret driving a red MG Cyberster convertible down a street in London at night with Big Ben in the background showing the time as 11:15 p.m. The more specific the prompt, the more likely the AI creation will satisfy the user.
risk: The chance or mathematical likelihood that some bad thing might happen. For instance, exposure to radiation poses a risk of cancer. Or the hazard — or peril — itself. (For instance: Among cancer risks that the people faced were radiation and drinking water tainted with arsenic.)
society: An integrated group of people or animals that generally cooperate and support one another for the greater good of them all.
software: The mathematical instructions that direct a computer’s hardware, including its processor, to perform certain operations.
survey: To view, examine, measure or evaluate something, often land or broad aspects of a landscape. (with people) To ask questions that glean data on the opinions, practices (such as dining or sleeping habits), knowledge or skills of a broad range of people. Researchers select the number and types of people questioned in hopes that the answers these individuals give will be representative of others who are their age, belong to the same ethnic group or live in the same region. (n.) The list of questions that will be offered to glean those data.
technology: The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry — or the devices, processes and systems that result from those efforts.
unique: Something that is unlike anything else; the only one of its kind.
verify: (n. verification) To demonstrate or confirm in some way that a particular claim or suspicion is true.
