SproutStack🌱 AI Engineering · AI Foundations (No Math Fear) · cozy lesson
What is AI, Really?
10 min · 1 min read · no scary math, promise
Narrow is normal
AI that writes poems still can’t reliably count r’s in “strawberry”. That’s narrow AI: brilliant in-distribution, brittle outside.
Rules vs learning
- Rules:
if contains 'lottery' and 'winner' → spam. Precise, breaks on paraphrase. - Learning: show 10k emails, learn weights. Handles paraphrase, needs data + evals.
Use rules when logic is crisp (tax brackets). Use learning when messy (images, language).
Where AI shines / fails
Shines: perception, summarization, draft code, search over messy text. Fails: exact math, fresh facts without retrieval, high-stakes decisions without human check.
Beginner test: “What data would change my mind?” If none, don’t use AI for it.
Check your understanding
Correct answers earn XP (once each).
1. Most real AI today is…
2. Rules vs learning?
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