The AI Handbook for The Curious Mind: Chapter 2

Artificial Intelligence 101: What Does “AI” Actually Mean?

Hey everyone,

Some of you may know, but a couple of months ago I wrote a book. It’s called The AI Handbook for the Curious Mind, and it’s available on Amazon or Gumroad. As this newsletter as been gaining some traction laterly, I’ve decided to do something a little different for paid subscribers here on The Data Journey.

Every two weeks, I’ll be releasing a full chapter here, exclusively for paid subscribers. I keep looking for ways to give back to the people who support this newsletter, and sharing the book felt like one of the more meaningful ones. 😄

The AI Term Conundrum

If you’ve ever tried to pin down a precise definition of “Artificial Intelligence” in conversation, you’ve probably noticed something odd: everyone seems to be talking about something slightly different. Researchers, CEOs, politicians, journalists, the word “AI” gets stretched across wildly different things. So let’s anchor it.

For the purposes of this book, here’s how I define it: AI is the development of tools that can think and act similar to human intelligence — understanding language, recognizing patterns, making decisions, learning from experience.