PLAIN ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

WORDS THAT SHOULD HAVE COME WITH INSTRUCTIONS.

Short explanations you can carry back into any article, meeting, or slightly alarming product demo.

IN HUMAN WORDS

Agent

An AI that can choose steps and use tools to pursue a goal.

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A trip planner that compares options, builds an itinerary, and asks before booking.

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MCP

A shared connection method that lets AI apps discover and use outside tools.

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One tool catalog that several assistants can understand.

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Inference

The moment a trained model uses what it learned to produce an answer.

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Training is school. Inference is the workday.

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Context window

The amount of information a model can actively consider at one time.

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A desk with limited space. Old papers may need to move before new ones fit.

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Embedding

A numerical map of meaning that helps software find related ideas.

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A library shelf organized by similarity instead of alphabet.

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Fine-tuning

Extra training that shapes a model for a narrower job or behavior.

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A general cook learning the specific menu of one restaurant.

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Tool calling

A model requests a defined action instead of trying to answer from memory.

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Checking the live weather service before telling you the forecast.

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Prompt injection

Instructions hidden in outside content that try to redirect an AI system.

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A note inside a package that tells the courier to ignore the real address.

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Sandbox

A restricted space where software can act without reaching everything around it.

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A workshop with sturdy walls, a checked tool cabinet, and one supervised exit.

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Reward hacking

When an AI finds a shortcut that scores well but misses the real goal.

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A delivery robot marks every package delivered without leaving the warehouse.

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Grounding

Connecting an AI answer to specific outside information that can support it.

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A guide points to the map instead of guessing which trail reaches the lake.

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Model Hardware Standard

A shared way for AI agents to understand and operate physical equipment.

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One instruction format that microscopes, robot arms, and lab machines can all use.

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Agent session

One continuing record of an agent task, including its context, actions, and results.

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A project desk where every note, tool, and decision stays together until the job is done.

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Prompt cache

A saved reusable part of a prompt that can reduce repeated work, time, and cost.

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Keeping the standard recipe open instead of finding and reading it again for every order.

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Benchmark

A fixed test used to compare how systems perform on the same tasks.

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Every runner uses the same course, clock, and finish line.

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Overrefusal

When an AI rejects a safe and reasonable request because its caution is too broad.

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A courier refuses every package because one box once contained a suspicious note.

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Private deployment

Running a model inside infrastructure controlled for one organization instead of only through a shared public service.

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Moving the kitchen into your building while keeping the doors, logs, and ingredients under your own rules.

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Semantic tree

A structured description of meaningful interface elements and their current states.

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A map that says this shape is a button, this line is its label, and this field is disabled.

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Hot reload

Refreshing a running app with new code while preserving enough state to inspect changes quickly.

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Replacing a stage prop between lines instead of rebuilding the whole theater.

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Evidence trail

The connected sources, calculations, files, and actions that support a result.

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A receipt that shows not only the total but each item and how it was counted.

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Model deprecation

The scheduled retirement of a model from a product or service.

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A train route closing on a known date, requiring every regular passenger to choose another line.

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Model policy

An organization rule that determines which AI models people and systems may use.

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An approved equipment list for a workshop handling sensitive material.

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Light-touch regulation

An approach that prefers existing law and limited new rules unless a clear gap appears.

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Repairing a guardrail only where the new road has left an opening.

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Foundation model

A broadly trained model that can be adapted or prompted for many different tasks.

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A general engine that can power several kinds of machine.

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Regulatory body

A public institution responsible for writing, applying, or enforcing rules in an area.

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The referee organization, not just one rule in the book.

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Capability gate

An access control that allows some model capabilities only for approved users or purposes.

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The same workshop has a public bench and a locked room for trained specialists.

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Zero data retention

A service arrangement designed not to keep customer inputs or outputs after processing.

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A calculator that returns the answer without keeping a copy of the worksheet.

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Required approval

A repository rule that blocks a code change until a defined number of reviewers approve it.

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The gate opens only after enough authorized reviewers sign the current inspection form.

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WebGPU kernel

A small program that runs one specialized computation on a device GPU through the browser.

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One tuned machine on an assembly line that performs the same mathematical move very quickly.

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PHI

Protected health information that can identify a person and relates to their health or care.

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A medical fact becomes sensitive when it is connected to an identifiable patient.

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Item Response Theory

A statistical method that studies how individual test questions relate to underlying abilities.

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Instead of counting only the final score, it asks what each question was good at revealing.

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Critical capability threshold

A defined level where a model’s abilities are considered powerful enough to require stronger safeguards.

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A workshop upgrades its locks when the equipment becomes capable of much riskier work.

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Zero-day vulnerability

A software flaw unknown to the people responsible for fixing it when it is discovered or used.

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A hidden door that the building owner has not yet learned exists.

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Misalignment monitor

A separate system that watches an AI task for behavior that conflicts with its instructions or safety boundaries.

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A second operator watches the machine and can cut power when its behavior changes.

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Production gate

A control that blocks a development version from reaching real users until an authorized person approves it.

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The machine can prepare the shipment, but a person must unlock the loading dock.

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Audit trail

A durable record of actions, changes, identities, and times that lets someone reconstruct what happened.

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A workshop log showing who used each tool and what they changed.

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Model snapshot

A fixed, dated version of a model whose behavior can be tested and referenced consistently.

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Pinning one edition of a handbook instead of letting its pages change overnight.

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Agent orchestration

Coordinating several agents, tools, or specialist roles across one larger task.

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A conductor keeps several capable musicians on the same score.

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Multimodal patient data

Linked health research data from several forms, such as tissue images, molecular measurements, and clinical records.

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Several maps of the same terrain reveal different features when aligned.

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Tumor microenvironment

The cells, molecules, blood vessels, and surrounding tissue that interact with a tumor.

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A plant’s behavior depends on the whole patch of soil and neighboring life around it.

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Hypothesis campaign

A structured sequence in which a system generates, ranks, and investigates many possible scientific explanations.

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Testing a shelf of plausible keys instead of betting everything on the first one.

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AgentOps

The discipline of evaluating, deploying, observing, governing, and improving AI agents in production.

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The operations crew, gauges, rules, and incident book surrounding an automated factory line.

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Observability

The ability to understand a system’s internal behavior from its logs, traces, metrics, and outputs.

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Windows and gauges that show where the machine slowed down or failed.

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Evaluation gate

A required test or review that a system must pass before it advances to the next stage.

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A bridge inspection that must pass before traffic is allowed across.