What Are AI Assistants?
AI assistants or chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, DeepSeek, and Perplexity understand and create text like a human.
You can chat with them, ask questions, or get help writing, learning, or planning.
They’re available 24/7 — like a super helpful digital assistant who never sleeps.
What Powers These Tools?
These tools are built on Large Language Models (LLMs), trained on huge amounts of text from books, websites, and articles.
They learn how words and sentences usually fit together, but they don’t actually understand the meaning like humans.
They are designed a bit like how your brain works when reading or listening. When you read something, you naturally focus more on the important words to understand the meaning.
So instead of reading one word at a time, it reads the whole sentence together and decides what to focus on.
How Do They Work?
LLMs work like a word calculator generating responses one word at a time, based on probability and context, much like a calculator solves equations step by step.
They choose the word with the highest priority (most likely) and keep going to complete a full response.
Sometimes they include words with lower priority to keep the answers more interesting or creative, which is why you may get different results each time.
How Are They Like the Brain?
Even though they aren't conscious, LLMs process language in ways similar to how our brains do.
Researchers found some AI models show patterns that match how the brain responds to language. This doesn’t mean AI is thinking like a person — but it organizes and connects words in ways that line up with how we do it.
That’s why talking to them often feels natural — they’ve learned from real human examples.
Why Do They Sometimes Make Mistakes?
Sometimes AI tools make things up — this is called a hallucination.
They don’t check facts. They just guess what usually comes next, based on patterns.
That means they might create fake sources or give wrong information — not on purpose, but because they don’t truly know.
Why Are They Still So Useful?
Even with their flaws, AI tools are great for writing, researching, planning, and learning.
They help you get started faster and explain complex ideas in simpler ways.
But always double-check their answers — they’re smart assistants, not experts.