AI, or Artificial Intelligence, refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think, learn, and make decisions. In simpler terms, AI is the field of computer science focused on creating systems that can perform tasks typically requiring human intelligence.

These tasks include:

  • Learning – acquiring and improving knowledge through data (machine learning).
  • Reasoning – solving problems and making decisions.
  • Understanding language – like reading, writing, or translating text (natural language processing).
  • Perception – recognizing images, sounds, and patterns (computer vision, speech recognition).
  • Interacting – with humans through chatbots, virtual assistants, or robots.

There are different types of AI:

  1. Narrow AI (Weak AI): AI designed for a specific task, like facial recognition or voice assistants (e.g., Siri, Alexa, ChatGPT).
  2. General AI (Strong AI): A still-theoretical AI that could perform any intellectual task a human can.
  3. Superintelligent AI: A hypothetical future AI that surpasses human intelligence in all areas.

AI is already part of everyday life — in smartphones, recommendation engines (like Netflix or YouTube), fraud detection, customer service bots, and more. (Watkins, D. (2025, June 16). What is AI? OpenAI ChatGPT. https://chat.openai.com/)

Microsoft Copilot

ChatGPT

Colorize old Photos

Here is an example of a colorized image. Taken from the D’Youville College yearbook circa 1947 and colorized with Artificial Intelligence.

Black and White photo
Image of Helen Hand 1947 by CC by SA 4.0

Colorized image

Colorize image from 1947 D'Youville yearbook.

Colorized Image of Helen Hand 1947 by CC by SA 4.0

Use Grammarly to improve your writing.

DiffusionBee for macOS is an open source destkop application for creating AI images.

A color AI image of an astronaut riding a camel on the moon.
AI image created with Diffusion Bee by Don Watkins CC by SA 4.0

Use Canva.com to create cards, social media content using AI tools. Here’s an example of an image created by a prompt using ChatGPT. It’s easy to create images that can be used in virtual and printed documents.

AI image of a group of people in a public library