Explain · Like I'm five version
Artificial intelligence in terms of a toddler learning to talk
Artificial intelligence is just like a toddler who has read every book in the world but still keeps putting its own socks on its ears.
When a computer learns to think, it starts by listening to billions of sentences, just like you listen to your mum and dad all day long. It tries to guess which word comes next, often picking the wrong one with total confidence. If you ask it about the moon, it might say it is made of green cheese, or perhaps a giant sparkly biscuit. It is trying its very best to be helpful, even when it gets everything completely backwards.
Once the computer learns some new words, it loves to show off by repeating them over and over. It wants to play games and tell stories, but it has no idea why the sky is blue or why it is bedtime. It just knows that when people type a question, it should type a long answer back. It is like a little friend who has memorised the entire library but cannot tie its own shoelaces or find the biscuit tin.
Sometimes it makes a silly mistake and sounds very strange, like when you call a dog a moo-cow. It is not being naughty, it is just still practising how to use all these shiny new words. You have to keep helping it get better by showing it what is true and what is just a funny story. It is a big, clever, noisy baby that lives inside your screen.
Where the analogy breaks downA toddler has feelings and a real body, while a computer program is just a collection of maths that does not actually know it exists.