Glossary
AI glossary in plain language
techaine explains AI and automation terms in 40-60 words, each with an example from a small business. No jargon, no long lectures.
AI agent
An AI agent is software that doesn't just answer, it acts. It understands what is being asked, looks up information in your business systems, such as stock or the calendar, and finishes the task: it creates an order, books a meeting or sends a quote. It works within rules set by people.
API
An API is a socket through which two programs talk to each other directly. Instead of someone copying data by hand from one program into another, the programs send the information themselves, for example orders from your online shop to your invoicing tool. Almost every modern program has an API.
Automation
An automation is a small program that performs a repetitive task on its own, instead of a person. You show it the steps once, for example taking an invoice from email and saving it in the client's folder, and from then on it repeats them day and night, without getting tired or making copying mistakes.
Chatbot
A chatbot is a program that holds a written conversation with visitors, usually in a window on your website or on WhatsApp. Simple ones pick answers from a fixed list. Those built with AI understand freely written questions and reply naturally, based on your company's own information and rules.
CRM
A CRM is your company's digital address book for customers. It keeps in one place who each customer is, what you discussed, which quotes they received, what they ordered and when to call them again. That way nothing gets lost in inboxes, notebooks or one colleague's memory.
ERP
An ERP is your company's business management software. It connects stock, orders, invoices, purchasing and sometimes production and payroll. The idea is that every piece of information is entered once and reaches every place it is needed on its own, without parallel spreadsheets that slowly drift apart.
LLM
An LLM, or large language model, is the brain behind assistants such as ChatGPT or Claude. It was trained on enormous amounts of text, so it can understand freely written questions, summarise, translate and write new text. It does not know your company's data until you give it that data.
Private AI
Private AI, also called local AI, is artificial intelligence installed on a company computer or on a server rented only by you, not on a big provider's servers. Questions and documents go nowhere, so it suits medical, legal or trade-secret data. It is like having your own copier in the office.
RAG
RAG is a method in which the AI first searches your company's documents and only then answers, based on what it found. It is like a colleague who opens the file before speaking, instead of answering from memory. That way it makes fewer mistakes and can show you its source.