Generative AI

Generative AI is a broad category that includes any machine-learning system that produces novel outputs rather than classifying or analyzing existing inputs. Large language models (LLMs), diffusion image models, voice-cloning systems, and video generators all fall under the umbrella.

The defining characteristic is that these models learn a probability distribution over their training data and can then sample new instances from that distribution — making them create-capable rather than merely predict-capable.

Generative AI has moved from research novelty to mainstream tool in the span of roughly 2020–2024. The question for most industries (including art) is no longer whether to use it, but how to use it responsibly.