Generative AI
Generative artificial intelligence (“GAI”) is AI1 that is capable of creating various forms of new content (audio, code, images, text, simulations, and videos).2With AI becoming increasingly present in today’s world and rapidly growing in capability, its advantages, disadvantages, and potential uses have become a popular topic of discussion.3 The main differentiating factor between GAI and Traditional AI is GAI’s ability to create new content.4The landscape of GAI is still evolving. Popular GAI algorithms such as ChatGPT and DALL-E are easily accessible online,5 allowing them to increase their data set and learn from the prompts uploaded by their millions of users.6 Theoretically, this learning process should allow GAI algorithms to improve and become “smarter” for future use. This Technology Explainer provides a high-level overview of how GAI works, a summary of its capabilities, a quick look at different types of GAI, and a discussion of its limitations and overall potential.
Sadie O'Connor
Georgetown University Law Center, J.D. Candidate 2024; University of South Carolina, B.A. in Criminology and Criminal Justice & B.A. in Experimental Psychology, 2020.