AI: analysis and generation
A key idea
Current Artificial Intelligence brings together two fundamental capabilities:
- INTERPRETING INFORMATION
- GENERATING NEW CONTENT
Both coexist in today’s tools and allow technology to become an ally in teaching and research.
Depending on the objective, these capabilities are used differently and give rise to two predominant uses:
predictive AI, focused on analysing and understanding data, and generative AI, aimed at producing new content based on what has been learned.
Predictive AI: interpreting and organising information
Predictive AI is used to analyse data, recognise patterns and generate predictions or classifications based on previous examples. It looks for similarities with known information and helps better understand a dataset.
It answers questions such as:
- “Which category does this belong to?”
- “What is most likely to happen?”
Common examples include:
- Detecting spam emails
- Recommending videos, readings or music
- Identifying elements in images
- Supporting decisions in health, transport or finance
Why it matters:
- Because it helps organise, classify and understand information in multiple contexts, facilitating both decision-making and data management.
Generative AI: creating content from what has been learned
Generative AI expands the interpretative capabilities of AI to produce new content: text, images, video, music or code. It does not simply analyse data; it can turn a description into a resource, an idea into a draft or an image into a creative variation.
It answers questions such as:
- “How could this idea be expressed differently?”
- “What text, image or explanation can be generated from this description?”
Common examples include:
- Writing texts and summaries (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Llama)
- Creating illustrations and images (DALL·E, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion)
- Generating videos (Sora, Runway)
- Producing synthetic voices or music (ElevenLabs, Suno)
- Assisting with code creation (GitHub Copilot, CodeWhisperer)
Why it is transformative:
- Because it enables the creation, reformulation and imagination of content using language alone.
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It opens new possibilities for learning, research and creative production.