The buyer's glossary

An AI system that carries out tasks on its own, taking actions in other tools instead of only answering questions.

Whether a vendor uses what you put into its tool to train its AI models, and whether you can stop it.

The saving you get for paying for a year up front instead of month by month.

A way for other software to talk to a tool directly, without anyone clicking through its screens.

A record of who did what in a tool, and when.

A standard test used to compare AI models on the same set of tasks.

Using your own AI model account (OpenAI, Anthropic) inside a tool, so the model usage is billed to you directly.

A small add-on that brings a tool into your web browser, so you can use it on any page.

Permission to use what a tool makes, such as images, video or audio, in paid work.

A version of a tool you can use for free with no end date, usually with limits on usage or features.

Time-limited free access to a paid plan, after which you pay or lose access.

One of the most capable AI models available at the time, from labs such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.

The EU's data protection law. It governs how personal data about people in the EU is collected, stored and used.

When an AI model states something false with confidence, such as a made-up fact, quote or source.

The US law that protects health information. A vendor handling it must sign a business associate agreement.

An international certification for how a company manages information security.

A way to stop an AI agent or automation immediately, mid-task.

The kind of AI model behind chatbots and writing tools, trained on huge amounts of text to predict and generate language.

An open standard that lets AI assistants connect to tools and data in a common way.

A free trial you can start without entering payment details, so nothing is charged when it ends.

The standard behind "Sign in with Google" and "Connect your account": it gives an app limited access without your password.

Software whose code is published under a licence that lets anyone read, change and run it.

An AI model whose trained weights are published, so anyone can download and run it themselves.

The security standard any business that stores, processes or sends card payment data has to meet.

Hidden instructions in a web page, email or file that trick an AI model into doing something it should not.

Giving people permissions by role (admin, editor, viewer) instead of one by one.

A standard that adds and removes users in a tool automatically from your company directory.

Running a tool on your own servers or cloud account instead of the vendor's.

An independent audit of how a company protects customer data, reported against a standard set by the AICPA.

Logging in to a tool with your company account (Google, Microsoft, Okta) instead of a separate password.

Turning written text into spoken audio with a synthetic voice.

The small chunk of text an AI model reads and writes in, and the unit most AI usage is priced by.

A logo or label a tool stamps on images, videos or audio made on its free plan.

A message a tool sends to another system the moment something happens in it.

Putting your own brand on a tool (or its reports) so clients see your name, not the vendor's.