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AI Dictionary of Terms: A Concise Reference for Modern Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is transforming every industry—but the conversation surrounding it is often obscured by hype, half-truths, and a blizzard of jargon.Whether you’re a policymaker evaluating regulations, a professional seeking clarity, or simply a curious mind trying to understand the AI headlines, this book delivers a clear and accessible guide to today’s most important AI terms.In this concise, expert-curated glossary, author and consultant Preben Ormen distills over 50 years of experience in technology, consulting, and business transformation to demystify artificial intelligence.Covering core concepts like machine learning, neural networks, and inference, the book also explores underrepresented but critical topics such as mesa-optimization, model collapse, and epistemic injustice.Organized both alphabetically and by theme, the Dictionary of AI Terms helps readers quickly find definitions while also understanding how ideas connect across technical, ethical, and philosophical domains.
Part I – About Artificial Intelligence establishes essential context with two foundational chapters that provide perspective on the field itself.These chapters ground the terminology that follows in a broader understanding of AI's scope, challenges, and trajectory.Part II – AI Terms Alphabetically presents the core dictionary in traditional alphabetical order.
Each entry follows a comprehensive eight-field Term: The specific name or phrase as commonly used in AI discourse, representing the canonical form you'll encounter in research, development, and industry discussions.AI Core Category: The primary conceptual domain where this term belongs, reflecting fundamental areas of AI knowledge such as machine learning techniques, cognitive processes, or evaluation methodologies.Tags: Secondary topic areas and cross-cutting themes where this term appears, enabling connections across different AI disciplines and applications.Definition: A precise explanation of what the term means within AI contexts, crafted to be both technically accurate and accessible to practitioners across different specializations.Why It Matters: The significance and impact of this concept in AI development, deployment, or understanding—why practitioners need to know this term and its implications.Common Misconceptions: Frequent misunderstandings, oversimplifications, or confusions that arise around this term, helping readers avoid typical pitfalls in interpretation or application.Example or Use Case: Concrete illustrations of the term in practice, showing how it manifests in real AI systems, research, or applications to ground abstract concepts in tangible scenarios.Comments: Additional insights, connections to related concepts, historical context, or forward-looking observations that enrich understanding beyond the basic definition.This format ensures that each entry provides not just meaning but understanding.
Part III – AI Terms by Category reorganizes the same terms by conceptual themes—from machine learning techniques to cognitive processes to evaluation methods.
Part I – About Artificial Intelligence establishes essential context with two foundational chapters that provide perspective on the field itself.These chapters ground the terminology that follows in a broader understanding of AI's scope, challenges, and trajectory.Part II – AI Terms Alphabetically presents the core dictionary in traditional alphabetical order.
Each entry follows a comprehensive eight-field Term: The specific name or phrase as commonly used in AI discourse, representing the canonical form you'll encounter in research, development, and industry discussions.AI Core Category: The primary conceptual domain where this term belongs, reflecting fundamental areas of AI knowledge such as machine learning techniques, cognitive processes, or evaluation methodologies.Tags: Secondary topic areas and cross-cutting themes where this term appears, enabling connections across different AI disciplines and applications.Definition: A precise explanation of what the term means within AI contexts, crafted to be both technically accurate and accessible to practitioners across different specializations.Why It Matters: The significance and impact of this concept in AI development, deployment, or understanding—why practitioners need to know this term and its implications.Common Misconceptions: Frequent misunderstandings, oversimplifications, or confusions that arise around this term, helping readers avoid typical pitfalls in interpretation or application.Example or Use Case: Concrete illustrations of the term in practice, showing how it manifests in real AI systems, research, or applications to ground abstract concepts in tangible scenarios.Comments: Additional insights, connections to related concepts, historical context, or forward-looking observations that enrich understanding beyond the basic definition.This format ensures that each entry provides not just meaning but understanding.
Part III – AI Terms by Category reorganizes the same terms by conceptual themes—from machine learning techniques to cognitive processes to evaluation methods.
402 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 1, 2025
About the author
Preben Ormen
6 books2 followersPreben Ormen was born in 1953 outside of Oslo, Norway where he spent his first seven years in a small seaside community after which the family moved to the north end of Oslo proper.
After high school, he completed his national military service in the Royal Norwegian Artillery where he trained as a communication platoon leader in a motorized artillery battery attaining the rank of sergeant.
He then went to Canada for a BA in business administration and later, an MBA.
His work career in Norway, Canada and Mexico, spanned two stints in public accounting, one in industry as an IT Auditor, a short one in Mazatlán with a Mexican research center in aquaculture and environmental management, and a more than 20 year run as a management consultant for three international consulting companies.
In 1992 he sailed with his family in their 32-foot cutter from Canada to Mexico where they lived on the boat for almost two years.
He has a long running blog at http://prebenormen.com with over 900 posts, some of which have been republished by others.
Before that he owned the site the Digital Norseman (now defunct) where, among other things, he published a handful of short stories.
This, and two incidental articles published in the Viking Heritage Magazine about the 40' replica Viking Ship ‘Munin’ built by the British Columbia Viking Ship Project for which he was the chairperson, whetted the appetite for concentrating more deeply on writing.
Preben is now retired from the traditional workforce and lives in Progreso, Yucatán, Mexico where he is finally dedicating his time to a long backlog of writing projects of which this book is a product.
Preben is married with a grown daughter and spends his spare time taking long morning walks on the beach followed by a swim in the ocean, cooking, reading, and exploring his new home base, the Yucatán peninsula.
Follow Preben on Twitter at @prebenormen and on his website at http://prebenormen.com.
After high school, he completed his national military service in the Royal Norwegian Artillery where he trained as a communication platoon leader in a motorized artillery battery attaining the rank of sergeant.
He then went to Canada for a BA in business administration and later, an MBA.
His work career in Norway, Canada and Mexico, spanned two stints in public accounting, one in industry as an IT Auditor, a short one in Mazatlán with a Mexican research center in aquaculture and environmental management, and a more than 20 year run as a management consultant for three international consulting companies.
In 1992 he sailed with his family in their 32-foot cutter from Canada to Mexico where they lived on the boat for almost two years.
He has a long running blog at http://prebenormen.com with over 900 posts, some of which have been republished by others.
Before that he owned the site the Digital Norseman (now defunct) where, among other things, he published a handful of short stories.
This, and two incidental articles published in the Viking Heritage Magazine about the 40' replica Viking Ship ‘Munin’ built by the British Columbia Viking Ship Project for which he was the chairperson, whetted the appetite for concentrating more deeply on writing.
Preben is now retired from the traditional workforce and lives in Progreso, Yucatán, Mexico where he is finally dedicating his time to a long backlog of writing projects of which this book is a product.
Preben is married with a grown daughter and spends his spare time taking long morning walks on the beach followed by a swim in the ocean, cooking, reading, and exploring his new home base, the Yucatán peninsula.
Follow Preben on Twitter at @prebenormen and on his website at http://prebenormen.com.
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