From LLMs to hallucinations, TechCrunch publishes a plain-English AI glossary

April 12, 2026
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What happened

TechCrunch has rolled out a glossary that aims to untangle the jargon-heavy world of artificial intelligence. The guide collects plain-English definitions for buzzwords readers keep seeing in headlines — everything from AGI to chain-of-thought — and it has been reported that the site plans to update the list regularly as the field evolves. Helpful? Absolutely. Necessary? You bet. For anyone who’s felt left behind by a parade of acronyms, this is a welcome cheat sheet.

AGI: fuzzy, contested, headline-ready

Take AGI — three letters, a dozen meanings. TechCrunch notes the landscape is muddled: it has been reported that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently described AGI as the “equivalent of a median human that you could hire as a co-worker,” while OpenAI’s charter frames it as systems that “outperform humans at most economically valuable work.” Google DeepMind, meanwhile, talks about matching human capability across most cognitive tasks. Confusing? Of course. Even researchers don’t always sing from the same hymn sheet.

Agents, chains and the stuff that runs the models

The glossary also defines AI agents — tools that carry out multistep tasks like booking flights or writing code by stitching together multiple AI systems — and explains chain-of-thought reasoning, which forces models to break problems into intermediate steps (yes, sometimes you still need a pen and paper). It covers compute too: the GPUs, TPUs and datacenter muscle that actually make modern AI possible. No glitter. Just the plumbing.

Why this matters

Beyond calming the jargon noise, the glossary signals something bigger: AI is moving fast, and terms matter for policy, safety and public understanding. TechCrunch says it will add entries as researchers uncover new methods and risks. That’s good news — because clarity isn’t just nice to have, it’s essential. Who wouldn’t want a friendly map when wandering through a dense, often unnerving forest of tech-speak?

Sources: techcrunch