Generative AI (GenAI)
AI that creates new content – text, images, code and more.
Explanation
Generative AI refers to systems that can generate new content instead of just analyzing existing data. These include models such as ChatGPT, DALL-E or Claude.
How it works
GenAI models learn the structure and patterns from training data and can then generate similar but new content - word by word, pixel by pixel.
Example
Automatic text creation for marketing, code generation, document summaries or image creation.
Why it matters
GenAI has made AI accessible to millions of users and enables entirely new types of automation.
Generative AI vs. traditional AI
Traditional AI, often called analytical AI, evaluates and classifies existing data: it detects fraud, forecasts demand or sorts emails. Generative AI creates new content that did not exist before: text, images, code, audio or video. It is built on large models trained on vast amounts of data, and for text these are large language models.
In practice the line blurs. An LLM can also classify, extract or score, often without any custom training, just with a good prompt. That is what makes generative AI so versatile for businesses: many tasks that used to require a dedicated machine learning project can now be solved with a pre-trained model.
Where generative AI works in business, and where it does not
Generative AI is well suited to drafts, summaries, translation, extracting information from unstructured documents, answering questions based on internal material, and software development. It is weak at exact calculations, at facts without a source (hallucinations) and anywhere a mistake is expensive and nobody checks the output.
The approach that works best treats generative AI as an accelerator with a review step, not as a replacement for experts. Depending on the task, that means a simple assistant, a RAG system built on company knowledge, or an agent that carries out tasks.
Frequently asked questions
What are examples of generative AI?
Well-known examples include ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini for text, Midjourney and DALL-E for images, and coding assistants such as GitHub Copilot or Cursor.
Is ChatGPT generative AI?
Yes. ChatGPT is an application built on large language models, which are a form of generative AI specialized in text and increasingly also in images and audio.
What is the difference between generative AI and agentic AI?
Generative AI produces content in response to a prompt. Agentic AI uses generative models to pursue a goal over multiple steps and take actions in other systems.