AI terms, explained in plain English
Twelve AI words New Zealand business owners keep hearing, each in one or two sentences.
The short answerAn AI assistant answers one question at a time. An AI agent or AI employee carries out several steps of real work. Language models can state false things confidently, so check facts, keep a person approving anything that goes out, and remember the Privacy Act 2020 applies to what you share.
- AI employee
- AI software with a job title, skills and instructions that does real work for a business, such as research or drafting emails. In JENA, it asks before anything is sent, posted or paid. Read more.
- AI agent
- AI that plans and carries out several steps towards a goal, often using other apps, rather than answering one question. Read more.
- AI assistant
- AI you ask one question at a time, such as a chat assistant. It answers, and you do the next step. Read more.
- Large language model (LLM)
- The kind of AI behind chat assistants. It writes text by predicting likely next words, which is why it can sound sure and still be wrong.
- Hallucination
- When an AI states something false as fact, such as a wrong price or a source that doesn’t exist. Check facts before you rely on them. Read more.
- Prompt
- The instruction you give an AI. Clear goals, examples and limits get better results.
- Token
- A small piece of text an AI reads or writes. AI plans, including JENA’s, often set a monthly allowance in tokens. Read more.
- Human in the loop
- A person reviews and approves AI work before it takes effect. In JENA, anything that sends, posts or pays waits for approval. Read more.
- Connector (MCP)
- A standard way to give an AI tool access to another service. Gnomon works as a connector you add to Claude or ChatGPT. Read more.
- Monte Carlo simulation
- Playing a decision out many times with different what-ifs to see how often it works. Gnomon runs up to a million. Read more.
- Privacy Act 2020
- New Zealand’s privacy law. It applies to personal information you put into any AI tool. Read more.
- Macron
- The line over a vowel in te reo Māori, as in Taupō. It marks a long vowel and can change a word’s meaning. Read more.
Questions
What is the difference between an AI agent and an AI assistant?
An assistant answers one question at a time and you do the next step. An agent plans and carries out several steps towards a goal, often using other apps.
Why does AI make things up?
Language models write by predicting likely words, not by looking facts up, so they can state something false with confidence. Check important facts against a source.
What does human in the loop mean?
A person reviews and approves AI work before it takes effect, such as before an email is sent or a payment is made.
See the terms at work.
JENA’s AI employees plan real work and ask before anything goes out. Free for 7 days.