AI and Generative AI Foundations¶
An introductory series for understanding what AI is, what generative AI is, how they differ and what AGI means—without depending on headlines or marketing.
Who it is for. Technical professionals and decision-makers who want a solid conceptual map: know exactly what each technology does, when it makes sense to use it and what to expect from it. No prior AI experience is required, but the concepts are treated seriously.
What you will learn. By the end of the series you will understand the difference between traditional and generative AI, when to use each type of system, why LLMs differ from agents and RAG, and what the main AGI definition frameworks actually mean. More importantly, you will have a mental model that remains useful even as individual models change.
Contents¶
1. What AI is and how it evolved¶
- AI as systems that use data and objectives to predict, classify, decide or control—systems that behave like specialists for a concrete task.
- The evolution from early heuristic rules to machine learning and neural networks, then deep learning and finally foundation models.
- The anatomy of a real AI solution and its lifecycle (MLOps).
- Successful applications and the ways this technology is already present in everyday life.
2. What generative AI actually is¶
- How the technology emerged, from embeddings to the Transformer and scaling laws.
- Why one generative-AI foundation model can serve many different tasks.
- The anatomy of a real generative-AI solution and its lifecycle (LLMOps).
- The difference between an LLM, LLM + RAG and an agent: RAG and agents are system configurations built around the model, not the model itself.
3. AI vs generative AI¶
- Differences in inputs and outputs, determinism, explainability, evaluation and risk.
- An operational matrix for choosing rules vs ML vs LLM vs LLM + RAG vs LLM-based agents.
4. Artificial General Intelligence: AGI¶
- The different definitions proposed for this future capability and what achieving it would imply.
By the end you will understand the fundamental pieces of these technologies and have a clear mental model of their differences, strengths and weaknesses.
Recommended next series: From the Caves to AGI — the historical path that explains how we reached today's foundation models.