Artificial Intelligence 101: Generative AI basics

Image Credit: “Great Pyrenees in Elizabethan Attire” by OpenAI’s DALL-E, generated on December 2, 2023.

The November blog post, “Artificial Intelligence 101: Join the AI conversation,” laid the foundations for a basic understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) in the context of a traffic navigation app. December’s blog post explores AI’s generative abilities, which range from curating to creating content like music, images, programming code, and written text. 

Context 

Shifting our focus from the practicalities of traffic navigation to the realm of imagination, let’s explore a different type of artificial intelligence captivating the creative interests of many, myself included: generative AI-powered art. I have no artistic talent, but I do have a Great Pyrenees named Stella, whose pictures take up most of my phone’s memory storage. Using Stella as my inspiration and reference image, I tried out a few commercially available digital art platforms including OpenAI’s DALL-E, Canva, and Adobe Firefly. 

In each platform’s text field, I typed: I want a 70 lb. female Great Pyrenees dog dressed in royal Elizabethan attire and wearing a tiara, using the attached picture for reference. After sifting through all its data related to Great Pyrenees dogs, Elizabethan-era clothing, and tiaras, the AI created a unique piece of digital art. I chose DALL-E’s version, pictured above, for its grandeur. This is generative AI in action, weaving together new combinations of existing content from the vast amounts of data on which the AI has been trained. 

Applications 

We interact with generative AI daily, sometimes without realizing it. When your device suggests words or phrases to complete a sentence, AI algorithms are predicting what you intend to type next based on what you’ve typed before. AI can generate text, images, music, and code based on your instructions. Virtual assistants such as Alexa and Siri, music streaming platforms including Apple Music and Spotify, and customer service chatbots – like Amazon’s – all rely on generative AI technology. 

Lexicon 

To help you better understand and engage in the AI conversation, these are some key terms to know: 

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) uses algorithms and data processing, often with machine learning, to mimic human decision-making in an “intelligent” manner.  
• Algorithms are coding instructions designed to perform a task based on specific data. 
• Data Sets are collections of information an AI uses for learning. 
• Machine learning is a subset of AI designed to adjust in response to past data and generate unique combinations of content labeled as “new.” 
• Neural networks are machine learning models designed to mirror the human brain’s decision-making process. 

Join the AI conversation 

Now that you know more about generative AI, you can continue to explore resources provided by Texas State University. Both Microsoft Learn and LinkedIn Learning offer a variety of self-paced modules and courses. Below are two industry-standard learning options to consider: 

• Fundamentals of Generative AI – Microsoft Learn 
• Introduction to Generative AI with GPT – LinkedIn Learning 

Whether you’d like to try AI-generated art for yourself or learn more about how Spotify compiled your 2023 Wrapped list, check out these modules and join the AI conversation! 

SOURCES 

• OpenAI. (2023, December 2) DALL-E. OpenAI 
• OpenAI. (2023, December 1). ChatGPT-4. OpenAI 
• Google AI. (2023, November 30) Bard. Google  
• Microsoft. (2023, December 1) Bing. OpenAI 

Kimberly Conner is a publications writer for IT Communications and Outreach.