tgroenwals shared this post · Jul 21

AI, ML, GenAI and LLMs are NOT the same thing.
Here's the difference, in plain English:

So here's the simplest way to think about it...
They're not competing tools.
They're a hierarchy that keeps building on itself:
(See the visual for the full breakdown 👇)

1️⃣ AI - Artificial Intelligence
↳ The broad umbrella. Systems that can think, reason, and act intelligently.
↳ Examples: expert systems, robotics, game AI.

2️⃣ ML - Machine Learning
↳ A subset of AI that learns patterns from data.
↳ Examples: spam detection, recommendations, fraud detection.

Greg Zlevor This is a helpful reminder that successful AI projects start with defining the problem first, then choosing the right approach, not the other way around.

Basia Kubicka Author Greg Zlevor Problem first, architecture second being the sequence that the hierarchy is designed to support rather than bypass is the right way to hold this. The layers give you a vocabulary for the second step. The first step still requires human judgment about what you're actually trying to solve.

Ben Gusberg Breaking down these complex technical terms into a simple hierarchy makes a massive difference for everyone. Clear definitions are so helpful when deciding which tech setup fits a specific project.

Basia Kubicka Author Ben Gusberg The decision being about fit rather than capability alone is the frame that makes the hierarchy a practical tool rather than just an educational one. Which layer matches this problem is a different and more useful question than which layer is most advanced.

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