AI glossary for business owners
Plain-English definitions of the AI terms that actually matter, each linked to a deeper guide. No jargon for jargon's sake.
AI agent
Software that completes a multi-step task using your tools and returns finished work for approval, rather than just answering questions. Read more →
AI employee
An AI agent given a defined, ongoing role, a title, tools, and an approval queue, so it functions like a staff member for a specific job. Read more →
Agentic AI
AI that takes actions across your tools to complete a goal, using generative AI as one of its abilities. Read more →
Generative AI
AI that produces content such as text, images, code, or summaries when prompted. It creates; agentic AI completes. Read more →
Chatbot
A conversational tool that answers questions when prompted but does not take actions across your systems. Read more →
AI chief of staff
An agent that runs your day: a morning briefing, an approvals queue, and a weekly review, like a human chief of staff at a fraction of the cost. Read more →
AI executive assistant
An agent that handles administrative work, inbox triage, diary, drafting and reminders, around the clock and for approval. Read more →
Human in the loop
A design where a person approves an agent's consequential actions before they happen, usually through an approval queue. Read more →
Multi-agent system
A team of AI agents that hand work to each other, one researches, one drafts, one files, coordinated under human approval. Read more →
AI operating system
A single place where your agents, their shared memory, your approval queue and your dashboards work together to run recurring work. Read more →
Guardrails
The limits that keep agents safe: approval queues, spend limits, scoped access, and never granting destructive permissions. Read more →
RPA
Rules-based robotic process automation that follows fixed steps and breaks on exceptions, where agents handle judgment. Read more →
SOP
A standard operating procedure: a plain-English, step-by-step description of a task that becomes an agent's instructions. Read more →
AI readiness audit
A structured review that finds where AI agents will save the most time, the quick wins, and the order to build them. Read more →