Nov. 7, 2025
AI vs. GenAI: What’s the Difference?
Generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) is often referred to as simply “AI,” but this can cause confusion between emerging and traditional technologies. Developing AI literacy involves understanding the different forms of AI and the ways they function.
Traditional AI
Traditional AI systems respond to specific inputs. These systems stick to pre-defined rules, which limits their scope of applications but allows them to excel at specific tasks. They analyze data to make certain predictions.
Unlike Gen AI, traditional AI don’t create anything.
Some examples of traditional AI include:
- Predictive text
- Traditional spellcheck
- Search engines
- Spam filters
- Chess and other game bots
- Personalized algorithms
Generative AI
Generative AI also analyzes data and makes predictions. The distinction here is that generative AI relies on its training data to create similar content.
Large language models (LLMs) like Microsoft Copilot Chat and ChatGPT, as well as image-making tools like Midjourney and Dall-E, are examples of generative AI.
These systems don’t understand their training data the way humans do but, because the AI models have a vast number of examples to analyze, they learn to mimic human patterns and writing styles.
Types of Gen AI
Text generators
Text Generators are trained on large datasets of text, like websites, blogs, articles, forums, and books. They learn to analyze linguistic patterns to predict and generate sentences.
Image generators
Image generators are trained on large datasets of images. They learn patterns in these images, analyzing various colours, shapes, sizes, and spaces to predict pixels and generate images.
Video generators
Video generators are trained on large datasets of video frames. They analyze how these static frames come together in a sequence to predict and generate video frames.
Audio generators
Audio generators are trained on large datasets of audio clips. They learn patterns of sounds and frequencies to predict and generate audio.
If you’re curious about how these systems work, check out this visual explainer.
Conclusion
Traditional AI is already at work in our everyday lives, from search algorithms to tailored ads. But the emergence of Gen AI might create new ethical, academic, and environmental concerns. Remember, as a student, you should only use Gen AI when given explicit permission by your instructor.
For more information about Gen AI: