Generative artificial intelligence

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Generative artificial intelligence (Generative AI, GenAI,^[1] or GAI) is a subfield of artificial intelligence that uses generative models to produce text, images, videos, or other forms of data.^[2][3][4] These models learn the underlying patterns and structures of their training data and use them to produce new data^[5][6] based on the input, which often comes in the form of natural language prompts.^[7][8]

Generative AI tools have become more common since an "AI boom" in the 2020s. This boom was made possible by improvements in transformer-based deep neural networks, particularly large language models (LLMs). Major tools include chatbots such as ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Copilot, Gemini, and LLaMA; text-to-image artificial intelligence image generation systems such as Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, and DALL-E; and text-to-video AI generators such as Sora.^{[9][10][11][12]} Technology companies developing generative AI include OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Google, DeepSeek, and Baidu.^[13][14][15]

Generative AI has raised many ethical questions. It can be used for cybercrime, or to deceive or manipulate people through fake news or deepfakes.^[16] Even if used ethically, it may lead to the mass replacement of human jobs.^[17] The tools themselves have been criticized as violating intellectual property laws, since they are trained on and emulate copyrighted works of art.^[18]

Generative AI is used across many industries. Examples include software development,^[19] healthcare,^[20] finance,^[21] entertainment,^[22] customer service,^[23] sales and marketing,^[24] art, writing,^[25] fashion,^[26] and product design.^[27]