AI Explained - Artificial / Super Intelligence in plain English

What is AI Artificial Intelligence / SI (Super Intelligence)?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is software that learns from examples, instead of following a fixed list of rules written by a programmer. The AI tools most people use today are chatbots: you type or speak a question or a request in everyday language, and the AI writes an answer, a letter, a plan or a summary for you in seconds.

These chatbots are built on large language models. During training, a model reads an enormous amount of text (complete libraries of books, articles, millions of websites) and learns how words, facts and ideas fit together. When you ask a question, it builds its answer word by word, each time choosing what best fits your question and everything said so far. The newest models can also "think" before they answer, search the web, read your documents and photos, and listen and talk.

Two things are important to know:

• AI can be wrong. A chatbot can sound completely sure of itself and still give a wrong answer (this is called a "hallucination"). Always check important facts, figures and prices, and any medical, legal or financial advice.
• AI does not know you unless you tell it your name, or connect it to your own calendar, email or computer files. The more background you give, the better the AI's answer. Also based on a growing "conversation" with you, the AI will "learn" about you, and build a profile of your likes, dislikes, mannerisms, quotes, way of speaking and so on.

How can I use AI?

You use an AI chatbot in your web browser, or in an app on your phone, tablet or computer. Most of them have a free plan; but the various levels of paid monthly plans give you more use, the newest models and extra features. The main players in the AI market are the Americans and the Chinese. The American AI models tend to be much more expensive (with fewer tokens per monthly subscription) than the Chinese. Each one has its Pros and Cons.

1. Ask in plain words. Say what you want, who it is for and how it should look: "Write a short, friendly email to my landlord asking him to repair the boiler this week."
2. Give it material. Paste in text, or upload a PDF, a spreadsheet, a photo or a screenshot, and ask questions about it.
3. Keep the conversation going. If the first answer is not right, say what to change: "shorter", "more formal", "in German".
4. Protect your privacy. Do not paste in passwords, bank details or other people's personal data, and check the privacy settings of each app.

Link AI to your calendar and email

The big AI assistants can now connect to the services you already use, once you give them permission. Gemini works with Google Calendar, Gmail and Google Drive; Microsoft Copilot works with Outlook and Microsoft 365; ChatGPT and Claude can connect to Google Calendar, Gmail and Google Drive through "connectors". You can then ask: "What have I got on next Tuesday?" or "Find a free hour this week for a call with Maria and put it in my calendar."

Plan and organise events

Tell the AI what you are planning (a birthday party, a family holiday, a business meeting or a club event) and it makes the checklist, the timetable, the budget, the shopping list and the invitation text. With a calendar connection it adds the dates and reminders for you, and with an email connection it drafts the messages to your guests.

Organise your files

AI can read and sort your documents: summarise a long contract, compare two quotes, copy the figures from a pile of invoices into a table, or suggest a clear folder structure and file names for years of photos and paperwork. With your cloud storage connected (for example Google Drive or OneDrive), it finds a file when you describe it in your own words: "the insurance letter from last spring".

Speed up art and design work

For artists, designers and anyone who makes posters, flyers or social media posts, AI is a very fast sketchbook. It produces mood boards, colour schemes, rough layouts, logo ideas and background images in seconds, removes or replaces parts of a photo, and enlarges or restores old pictures. You keep the creative control: use the AI drafts as a starting point, then finish the work in your usual design programs.

The AI chatbots explained

All these chatbots work in the same basic way (see "What is AI?" above), but each company trains its own models and adds its own features:

A word about privacy

When you use a chatbot's website or app, your questions and files go to that company's servers. DeepSeek's privacy policy says that it stores user data in the People's Republic of China, and Kimi and GLM are also run by Chinese companies, so think carefully before you enter personal or business information. The open versions of these models can run offline on a powerful computer, so no data leaves your home or office: ask us about our AI workstations. With the American services, check whether your chats are used to train future models, and switch this off if you prefer. BUT BEWARE, there have been many reports - especially on REDDIT and LEMMY - that users' AI conversations (chats) have appeared in Google AI Search results.

Text-to-image and text-to-video AI

Some AI tools create pictures and videos instead of text. You describe the picture ("a watercolour of a fishing boat in the Old Port of Limassol, Cyprus, at sunset") and the AI paints it. Popular image tools are Adobe Firefly, Midjourney, ChatGPT and Google Gemini (its image model is nicknamed "Nano Banana"). Video tools such as Google Veo, Kling and Runway turn a sentence or a photo into a short video clip, some with sound. New AI video and image tools are being added all the time.

These tools are great for ideas, social media and presentations. Check the licence terms before you use the results commercially, and remember that AI pictures can look real when they are not.

What can AI do for me?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can act as your personal assistant, creative partner, and problem-solving tool by processing information, generating content, and automating routine tasks.

Daily life & organisation

• Planning & scheduling: Build custom travel itineraries, weekly meal plans based on your diet, and workout routines.
• Household troubleshooting: Diagnose problems with appliances or home systems by describing the symptoms.
• Learning & studying: Explain complex topics in simple terms, quiz you on study material, or practise tough conversations beforehand.
• Help for senior users: Many AIs can be connected to devices like Amazon Alexa and the Amazon Echo Show 8 or 10 to help Senior users with their daily tasks. Please see our Senior User Package for details.

Writing & creativity

• Overcoming writer's block: Draft emails, rewrite awkward sentences, or outline business proposals and essays.
• Brainstorming: Generate ideas for projects, gifts, YouTube titles, or marketing copy.
• Thinking mode: All the main AI chatbots have a thinking mode, called for example "Thinking", "Extended thinking" or "DeepThink". You switch it on with a button under the message box or in the model menu. In this mode the AI does not answer at once: it first works through your question step by step, checks its own reasoning and often searches the web, and only then writes the answer. This can take from a few seconds to several minutes, but the answer is usually more accurate and more complete. Use it for questions that need careful thought, for example: comparing three laptops for your budget and needs; planning a two-week holiday with flights, hotels and costs; checking a business idea for risks and costs; or a difficult calculation. For quick tasks, such as a recipe or a short email, the normal mode is enough.
• Visuals & audio: Create images, artwork, or design concepts using tools like Adobe Firefly or DALL-E.

Work & productivity

• Data & document analysis: Summarise long PDF reports, extract data into tables, or turn messy notes into structured text.
• Meeting prep: Turn long meeting transcripts or recordings into concise action items and summaries.

Popular AI platforms

You can access these capabilities through major general-purpose AI systems:

• ChatGPT (OpenAI): great for general writing and multi-purpose tasks.
• Claude (Anthropic): excels at deep writing, analysing long documents, and logical reasoning.
• Gemini (Google): strong integration with web search and Google Workspace apps.
• Perplexity: built specifically for fast, source-backed web research and fact-finding.

What is an AI Overview in Google Search?

When you search on Google, the first thing you often see now is an AI Overview: a short answer written by Google's Gemini AI from information on several websites, with small links to its sources. It appears above the normal search results. Google's "AI Mode" goes one step further, with a full chatbot answer.

For the person searching, this is handy. For the websites that supply the information, it is a problem: many people read the summary and never click through to the website.

• In a study by the Pew Research Center (July 2025), people clicked a normal search result on 8% of visits when an AI Overview appeared, against 15% when there was none.
• Ahrefs (2026) measured about 58% fewer clicks on the top-ranking page when an AI Overview is shown.

Fewer visits mean fewer enquiries and sales for small businesses, even when their own content is used in the answer. To stay visible, a website needs clear, original content that answers real questions, well-structured pages and up-to-date business information, and customers need other ways to find you too, such as a newsletter, social media and personal recommendations. Our website design service includes a website health check.

If you own a website, or plan to create one, we recommend that you (i) analyse your existing or potential clients by zone, and (ii) print local paper adverts to distribute in those zones and to clients with a similar profile. Show your website name, email address and phone number clearly on the adverts. It is also very important to ask us for help with setting up your website's SEO (search engine optimisation) tools, such as Google Search Console. This helps your website appear in the Google search results below the AI Overview and the sponsored entries.

Look past the AI Overview

We suggest that you do NOT normally limit yourself to the AI Overview AND the "Sponsored" results at the top of the page (websites that have paid Google to appear there). IF you only read those, you will definitely miss a lot of useful information and offers on other websites. It usually pays to spend a little more time: scroll down past the AI Overview and the sponsored websites to the actual search results, then take a few minutes to open some of the websites there and see what they offer. For example:

• Looking for a new printer: a small specialist shop further down the list may have a better price, or better advice, than the advertisers at the top.
• Looking for a local service: the prices, opening hours and real customer reviews are on the businesses' own websites, not in the summary.
• Checking a health or legal question: the AI Overview can be wrong or out of date, so read the original sources it links to.

To hide the AI Overview, type a space and -AI after your search words (no space between the minus sign and "AI"). This works at the time of writing. For example:

• Hermès watch sellers -AI
• best budget colour laser printer -AI
• replacement battery for Dell laptop -AI

Another way: after you search, click Web in the row of filters below the search box (it is sometimes under More). Google then shows only the list of websites, with no AI Overview.

Our AI consultancy service

Computer Studio explains AI in plain English, at your home or office, at your own pace. We do not only talk about AI: we set it up on your own computer and show you, one-to-one, how to use it.

AI Consultancy Service: €250, including the on-site visit, in four parts:

1. On-site visit. We come to your home or office and look at your designated computer or laptop and how you use it. Then we talk about the possibilities: what AI can do for you, and what you want AI to do for you.
2. AI consultancy (2 hours). What AI is, what it can and cannot do, and its benefits for your daily life or your business. We help you choose the AI tool and plan that suit you.
3. Installation and configuration. We install your AI subscription (for example Claude Pro with the Claude Desktop app, or ChatGPT) on your computer or laptop, and if you wish on your phone and tablet, with safe privacy settings. We give the AI the basics about you (your name, your work, how you like answers written). If you work on projects in a repository, we download and configure GitHub and connect it to your AI.
4. One-to-one user training, hands-on at your own computer:
   • writing good prompts: give background, say what you want and in what form, then improve the answer step by step
   • checking answers, and when to use Thinking mode
   • AI instruction files (for example a CLAUDE.md file) and good-use guidelines, which tell the AI how to work, so you do not have to repeat yourself
   • using fewer tokens, so your monthly plan lasts longer: a new chat for each new subject, short instructions, only the files the AI needs, and a smaller model for simple tasks
   • connecting AI safely to your calendar, email and files

Session notes: during the visit we write session notes for you to keep as a guide. If you need more information about an AI later, we can send you more specialised notes by email. Work on a specialised project of your own is quoted separately, as a consultancy job.

We can also help you use AI in your small business (letters, quotes, social media, documents), and run AI privately on your own AI workstation.