Jargon, decoded

Tech & AI

Plain-English explanations of the tech and AI terms suddenly everywhere, from LLMs and RAG to vibe coding and AI slop.

  • AI and machine learning
  • AI tools in practice
  • Software and developer culture
  • Security and privacy

9 entries.

Tech & AI

AI slop

Low-effort AI content flooding the internet

Tech & AI

Vibe coding

Building software by describing it to an AI

Tech & AI

Clanker

The internet's favourite insult for robots and AI

Tech & AI

Hallucination

When an AI states something false with total confidence

Tech & AI

LLM

The kind of AI behind ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini

Tech & AI

Prompt engineering

Writing instructions that get better answers out of AI

Tech & AI

RAG

How AI tools look things up before they answer

Tech & AI

Token

The unit AI reads, writes and bills you for

Tech & AI

AI agent

AI that takes actions, not just answers questions

About this section

The AI boom arrived with a vocabulary nobody handed out. Product launches, work chats and news headlines now assume you know what a token is, why a model hallucinates and what separates an agent from a chatbot. This section explains that jargon the same way we explain slang: the meaning first, then where it came from, how people actually use it, and the misconceptions worth avoiding.

Every piece is written or edited to our editorial policy: plain English, sources checked, and corrections made when we get something wrong. Guest contributions follow the same standards; see writing for us.