What is artificial intelligence (AI)? A simple explanation

ChatGPT, Gemini, "AI"… These words are everywhere. Here is what it is, in a few simple sentences.

An AI is a program that has read an enormous amount of text: books, newspapers, websites. It has learned how people speak and write.
When you ask it a question, it writes an answer word by word, like a very well-read person answering from memory.
It doesn't think and doesn't feel anything. It isn't a person, even if it speaks very politely.
You may already use it without knowing: automatic translation, or the words suggested when you type a text message.
The best-known ones have a free version: ChatGPT, Gemini (from Google) and Le Chat (a French AI, from Mistral).
It doesn't replace your doctor, your bank adviser or your loved ones. Think of it as a very chatty dictionary, available day and night.

Good to know: To try it without risk, start with a question that has no stakes: a recipe, where a word comes from, an idea for an outing.

See also