01 / The Model
AI
A marketing word more than a technical one, and a moving one. It points at whatever computers have just learned to do impressively. Right now that means large language models. In five years it will mean something else.
How you’ll hear it
“We need an AI strategy.”
“For which problem? AI is a label, not a product we can buy.”
Avoid
Using AI as if it names one technology. Say what it actually is: a language model, a classifier, an automation.
The longer version
Twenty years ago AI meant chess engines and route planners. Today it mostly means large language models. The word moves to whatever feels newly impressive, which is why it is useless in a requirement or a contract. Name the capability instead.