About
This guide is meant to provide an overview of generative artificial intelligence (AI) for the RISD community. It is not meant to be comprehensive. Because of the rapidly changing nature of generative AI, some of the information in this guide may fall out of date. Please email us at researchhelp@risd.edu if you have any suggestions or feedback about the content in this guide.
Guide last updated January 22, 2025
What is Generative AI?
Generative AI is technology that creates content — including text, images, video and computer code — by identifying patterns in large quantities of training data, and then creating new, original material that has similar characteristics. Examples include ChatGPT for text and DALL-E and Midjourney for images.
- The New York Times, On Tech: Artificial Intelligence
Generative AI explainer. (n.d.). AI for Education. Retrieved January 17, 2024, from https://www.aiforeducation.io/ai-resources/generative-ai-explainer
Further (Light) Reading
Wikipedia - Generative artificial intelligence
The New York Times - Artificial intelligence glossary