Where older AI mainly recognised or sorted things, generative AI produces something new. Give it a prompt and it generates an original response: an essay, a picture, a song, or working code.
It works by learning the patterns in huge datasets, then using those patterns to generate fresh output that resembles, but does not copy, what it learned. Tools like ChatGPT for text and Midjourney for images are generative AI.
For example, asking a tool to create a logo of a blue fox produces an image that never existed before. The same technology drafts marketing copy, writes code and composes music — which is why it is reshaping so many kinds of creative and knowledge work.