AI Basics Quiz: What Do You Actually Know About AI?

Which of the following is the correct relationship between AI, machine learning, and generative AI?

Generative AI came before machine learning, which came before AI Generative AI is a type of machine learning, which is a type of AI — they are nested categories, not separate things Machine learning and generative AI are the same thing with different names AI is only about robots; machine learning is about software; generative AI is a marketing term

What happens when a conversation exceeds an AI's context window limit?

The AI stops responding and requires a new conversation to be started The AI loses access to text that falls outside the window — it effectively 'forgets' earlier parts of the conversation and may give inconsistent responses The AI stores the overflow in external memory and retrieves it when needed Exceeding the context window triggers an automatic upgrade to a larger model

What does a 'context window' determine in an AI conversation?

The time window during which a conversation is saved before being deleted The number of different topics an AI can discuss in a single session The size of the screen where AI output is displayed How much text the AI can 'see' and refer to at once — including your messages, shared documents, and the AI's own replies. Text outside the window is effectively forgotten

Why is 'Artificial Intelligence' considered a misleading name by many researchers?

AI is misleading because the system is not artificial — it uses real human data There is no controversy about the name — it accurately describes how the systems work The name is misleading because AI is more intelligent than humans in every domain AI systems don't think or understand — they perform sophisticated pattern recognition and statistical prediction, which produces human-seeming outputs without human-like comprehension

What is the key difference between 'narrow AI' and 'general-purpose AI'?

Narrow AI is cheaper; general-purpose AI is always more expensive per use Narrow AI is for small companies; general-purpose AI is only for enterprise use Narrow AI runs on phones; general-purpose AI requires large servers Narrow AI is designed for one specific task (spam filtering, recommendations); general-purpose AI handles many different tasks through a single model that users direct with language

How quickly did ChatGPT reach 1 million users after its release in November 2022?

5 days — the fastest product in history to that point to cross 1 million users ChatGPT has never reached 1 million users — it is primarily used by researchers 6 months — it grew slowly at first before viral spread 1 year — mainstream adoption in consumer AI has historically been slow

What is the transformer architecture, and why does it matter for modern AI?

A 2017 research breakthrough that enabled models to track how words relate across long text — making it possible to train AI on vast amounts of text at a scale that produces today's LLMs A programming language used to build ChatGPT and similar AI products A type of electrical transformer that powers AI data centers more efficiently A hardware chip designed specifically for Google's AI research

What made ChatGPT feel fundamentally different from previous AI products like Siri or Alexa?

ChatGPT was a general-purpose system — one interface could write, analyze, code, and answer questions across any domain, unlike assistants built for narrow command-response tasks ChatGPT was the first AI to use the internet in real time to answer questions ChatGPT was different because it ran on quantum computers unavailable to earlier AI ChatGPT was the first AI ever to understand English language

According to McKinsey's 2025 survey, approximately what fraction of organizations report regular AI use in at least one business function?

About 25% — AI adoption is still in early phases for most organizations 88% — AI is now mainstream in organizations, not experimental Less than 10% — AI is still primarily used only by technology companies About 50% — half of organizations have started; half remain uninvolved

What is AI 'hallucination'?

When AI translates text incorrectly because it doesn't know the language When AI generates plausible-sounding but factually incorrect content — stated confidently, without any signal to the user that the information may be wrong When AI becomes confused and stops generating responses When AI produces visual artifacts or distorted images