AI glossary
AI terms, in business language
Clear definitions for the conversations that happen before a useful system gets built.
Core terms and practical examples
- AI agent
- Software that interprets a goal and uses permitted tools to carry out bounded tasks, with oversight appropriate to the risk.
Example: Reviewing a service request and preparing a draft response for an advisor.
- AI automation
- The use of AI within a repeatable business process, usually alongside rules, validation and human decisions.
Example: Extracting repair details from a document before a person reviews the record.
- Predictive analytics
- Statistical or machine-learning methods that use historical information to estimate future outcomes.
Example: Forecasting next month's service demand from past bookings and seasonal patterns.
- Workflow
- An ordered process describing inputs, responsibilities, decisions and the conditions for completing a piece of work.
Example: Request → inspection → estimate → approval → repair → invoice.
- Integration
- A controlled connection that exchanges information or actions between systems using supported interfaces.
Example: Linking an approved service record to a customer account without retyping it.
- Orchestration
- Coordination of tools, rules and agent steps so work moves through the correct sequence.
Example: Gathering job details, drafting an estimate and pausing for approval before sending it.
- Human-in-the-loop
- A design in which a person reviews, approves or corrects a system's work at defined points.
Example: A service manager confirms labor and parts before a customer receives an estimate.
- Evaluation
- Testing a system against representative cases and explicit success and failure criteria.
Example: Checking that an agent recognizes missing claim evidence and escalates rather than guessing.
- Grounding
- Basing AI responses on relevant, authorized source material rather than treating a model's output as evidence.
Example: Answering a policy question from the current service policy and showing its source.
- Tool use
- An agent requesting a defined operation, such as reading an account or preparing a record update, through a controlled interface.
Example: Looking up an appointment using a read-only tool before drafting a reminder.
See these concepts together in AI Agent Documentation.