artificial intelligence
Americannoun
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the capacity of a computer, robot, programmed device, or software application to perform operations and tasks analogous to learning and decision making in humans, such as speech recognition or question answering. AI, A.I.
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a computer, robot, programmed device, or software application having this humanlike capacity: AI, A.I.
teaching human values to artificial intelligences.
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the branch of computer science involved with the design of computers, robots, programmed devices, and software applications having the capacity to imitate human intelligence and thought. AI, A.I.
noun
Closer Look
The goal of research on artificial intelligence is to understand the nature of thought and intelligent behavior and to design intelligent systems. A computer is not really intelligent; it just follows directions very quickly. At the same time, it is the speed and memory of modern computers that allows researchers to manage the huge quantities of data necessary to model human thought and behavior. An intelligent machine would be more flexible than a computer and would engage in the kind of “thinking” that people actually do. An example is vision. In theory, a network of sensors combined with systems for interpreting the data could produce the kind of pattern recognition that we take for granted as seeing and understanding what we see. In fact, developing software that can recognize subtle differences in objects (such as those we use to recognize human faces) is very difficult. The recognition of differences that we can perceive without deliberate effort would require massive amounts of data and elaborate guidelines to be recognized by an artificial intelligence system. According to the famous Turing Test, proposed in 1950 by British mathematician and logician Alan Turing, a machine would be considered intelligent if it could convince human observers that another human, rather than a machine, was answering their questions in conversation.
Etymology
Origin of artificial intelligence
First recorded in 1955–60
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Terra Drone’s answer: Unmanned aerial vehicles that use radar, cameras and artificial intelligence to collide with hostile drones, minimizing the need for highly trained pilots.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
In his view, the company owns a set of “extremely attractive assets” and can capitalize as artificial intelligence increasingly gets deployed.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026
After achieving a historic surplus in 2025, China's trade has continued to boom this year, thanks largely to heightened overseas demand for semiconductors, computing hardware and other products linked to the artificial intelligence boom.
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
Finally, the Journal’s Kate Clark looks at the venture industry’s newfound love of startups built around human experiences that cannot be easily displaced by artificial intelligence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
“With data. For a while now, I’ve been working on developing the perfect artificial intelligence, an algorithm that, when implemented through the NeuroLink, can fix our flaws better than any human police force.”
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
