Say it like this

Something that keeps happening the same way, so you can start guessing what comes next.

For the grown-up

A pattern is a regularity that repeats enough to support prediction. Pattern recognition is the foundation of machine learning and most of human learning too, which is why it is worth introducing as an ordinary everyday idea rather than a technical one.

The easy mistake

Careful here. A pattern that held every time so far can still stop. Noticing a pattern is not the same as knowing why it happens, and the gap between those two is where most wrong predictions live.

The full explanation

What Is Artificial Intelligence?

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

Read it

Words next to this one

Data All the little bits of information somebody collected. Facts, numbers, pictures, anything you can write down. Example One of the things you show a computer so it can learn. Show it a thousand and it starts noticing what they share. Artificial Intelligence A computer that has looked at so many examples it can start guessing about things it has never seen before. Algorithm A list of steps for getting something done, written out so carefully that a machine can follow it.