LANDMARK · 5 MIN · ORIENT
AI language changes
After this landmark, you can translate an AI buzzword into what the product actually does — “when they say X, the system does Y”.
The vocabulary of AI shifts under your feet. Words like “AI”, “reasoning”, “agent”, “smart”, “thinking”, and “understands” are used as technical terms and as marketing at the same time, and their meaning drifts with fashion and with whoever is selling. The same word can mean something precise in a research paper and almost nothing in an ad. So the label alone tells you little. The skill is translation: read past the word to what the system actually does, and be able to say “when they say X, they mean the product does Y”.
This is the canonical concept. It stays the same across learner lenses so personalization never changes the underlying facts.
◌ EVERYDAY LENS
What this looks like for you
When a product says it “thinks” or “understands you”, mentally swap the word for the behaviour: it predicts likely responses from patterns. The claim usually shrinks once you say what it actually does.
MAKE A DECISION
A tool is marketed as “an agent that truly understands your business”. What’s the sharpest way to read this?
CARRY THISTake one AI product’s tagline and rewrite it as “when they say X, the product actually does Y” for each buzzword in it.