Glossary · 1 · Foundations: how AI works
Generative AI
Also known as: GenAI
Generative AI is artificial intelligence that creates new content — text, images, audio, video or code — in response to an instruction, by producing output that follows the patterns of the data the model was trained on.
- Beginner
- Technical writers
- Technical marketers
- Technical project managers
In one sentence
Generative AI defined: models that create text, images, audio, video and code from a prompt — and what that means for writers, marketers and PMs.
Example
A technical writer asks an assistant to turn release notes into a customer-facing “What’s new” page; the assistant generates a new draft instead of retrieving an existing one.
Why it matters on your learning path
- Technical writers: Generative AI drafts, rewrites, summarizes and translates. Your role shifts toward source quality, review and structure.
- Technical marketers: It accelerates content production, but brand voice, factual accuracy and disclosure remain your responsibility — see AI content disclosure.
- Technical project managers: Budget for review time. Generative tools reduce drafting effort, not accountability.
Generative AI vs. predictive AI
Predictive (or discriminative) AI assigns a label or number — “this ticket is about billing.” Generative AI produces something new — “here is a reply to the ticket.” Many products combine both.