Say it like this

All the little bits of information somebody collected. Facts, numbers, pictures, anything you can write down.

For the grown-up

Data is recorded observation. On its own it means nothing at all. It becomes useful when something finds a pattern in it, and it becomes dangerous when the thing finding patterns treats an incomplete collection as though it were the whole world.

The easy mistake

Careful here. Data is never neutral, because somebody chose what to collect and what to leave out. That choice is usually invisible and almost always matters.

The full explanation

The Robot That Only Knew Cats

A glossary entry is the short version. This one has the child explanation, the grown-up explanation, the questions and an activity.

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Words next to this one

Example One of the things you show a computer so it can learn. Show it a thousand and it starts noticing what they share. Pattern Something that keeps happening the same way, so you can start guessing what comes next. Artificial Intelligence A computer that has looked at so many examples it can start guessing about things it has never seen before. Computer A machine that follows instructions very fast and never gets bored of doing the same thing again.