What is Generative AI?

Without being technical, Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) predicts what text should come next when given a sequence of text. It makes these predictions by learning patterns and statistical relationships from vast amounts of text, data, and information. While it appears to understand questions and search for answers, it's actually predicting what a suitable response might "look like" based on patterns—without true comprehension of the question or answer.

Generative AI uses large language models (LLMs), neural networks, and transformer architectures to achieve these predictions. Without diving into extensive technical detail, think of LLMs as computer programs trained on enormous amounts of information, enabling them to recognize and interpret human language and complex data. Once they organize this data into networks of interrelated information, they can generate sequences that resemble coherent answers.

How Your Data Is Used

What's especially important to understand is that Generative AI doesn't just rely on information from the internet—it also processes the information you provide in your questions and prompts. Depending on the service and settings you use, this data may be integrated into the model and potentially used to improve responses for you or others.

Public vs. Private LLMs

Generative AI systems operate in different modes:

Public LLMs (such as free ChatGPT): When you ask questions and include data, that information may be integrated into the public model and could potentially be used to generate answers for other users.
Private/Enterprise LLMs: Most Generative AI companies—including OpenAI (ChatGPT), Microsoft (Copilot), Anthropic (Claude), and Google (Gemini)—offer paid, private modes where your data does not become integrated into the wider public model. Your conversations remain specific to your account.

Tip: Always check the specific privacy settings and terms of service for the AI tool you're using to understand how your data will be handled.

​What is Generative AI?

How Your Data Is Used

Public vs. Private LLMs

What is Generative AI?

Lesson 1 – Generative AI Primer