AI marketing and generative media terms

Generative AI, prompts, image and video models, AI voices, hallucinations and content credentials. 26 terms, each with what it means, why it matters and what to do about it.

AI agent

An AI agent is an AI system that works toward a goal by planning steps, using tools and acting on results, with less step-by-step human input.

AI avatar

An AI avatar is a computer-generated person or character that can speak a script on video, with lip movements synced to an AI or recorded voice.

AI copywriting

AI copywriting is using AI language models to write marketing text such as captions, ads, headlines, emails and product descriptions.

AI hallucination

An AI hallucination is false or made-up information that an AI model presents as fact, such as invented statistics, quotes, features or sources.

AI image generator

An AI image generator is a tool that creates images from a text description, and sometimes from a reference image, using a trained AI model.

AI marketing

AI marketing is the use of artificial intelligence to plan, create, target and measure marketing, from writing copy to choosing who sees an ad.

AI music generator

An AI music generator creates original music, from short background beds to full songs, based on a text description of genre, mood and length.

AI voice generator

An AI voice generator turns written text into natural-sounding speech, often with a choice of voices, accents, languages and speaking styles.

AI watermark

An AI watermark is a visible mark or hidden signal embedded in AI-generated content so software can later identify it as AI-made.

Brand safety

Brand safety is protecting a brand's reputation by keeping its ads and content away from harmful contexts and its own content free of risky claims.

BYOK (bring your own key)

BYOK (bring your own key) means using your own API key for an AI provider inside an app, so you pay the provider directly for what you use.

Content credentials (C2PA)

Content credentials are tamper-evident metadata, based on the C2PA standard, that record who made a file, with which tools and whether AI was used.

Deepfake

A deepfake is AI-generated or AI-altered video, audio or images that realistically show a real person saying or doing something they did not.

Diffusion model

A diffusion model is a type of generative AI that creates images, video or audio by starting from random noise and removing it step by step.

Generative AI

Generative AI is artificial intelligence that creates new text, images, audio or video from a prompt, based on patterns learned from training data.

Image to video

Image to video is AI that animates a still image into a short video clip, guided by a prompt describing the motion you want.

Large language model (LLM)

A large language model (LLM) is an AI model trained on huge amounts of text to understand and generate language, powering chatbots and AI writers.

Marketing automation

Marketing automation is software that runs repetitive marketing tasks on rules or triggers, like scheduled posts, email sequences and lead scoring.

MCP (Model Context Protocol)

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets AI assistants connect to outside tools and data, so they can read information and take actions.

Negative prompt

A negative prompt tells an AI image or video model what to leave out, such as text, blur, extra fingers or a watermark.

Prompt

A prompt is the instruction or input you give an AI model, such as a question, a task or a description of the image you want it to create.

Prompt engineering

Prompt engineering is the practice of designing and testing prompts so an AI model gives accurate, useful and consistent output.

Synthetic media

Synthetic media is any image, video, audio or text created or substantially changed by AI, from AI voiceovers to generated photos and avatars.

Text to image

Text to image is AI that turns a written description into a picture. You type a prompt and the model generates matching images.

Text to video

Text to video is AI that creates video from a written prompt or script, either as generated footage or as an edited video with scenes and voice.

Voice cloning

Voice cloning is AI that copies a specific person's voice from a recording sample so it can speak any new text in that voice.