AI, BIM & Tech Glossary — plain-English definitions

AI (Artificial Intelligence)

Computer systems that perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence — recognising images, understanding language, making decisions.

Deep Learning

Machine learning using neural networks with many layers — the basis of modern AI.

Machine Learning (ML)

Algorithms that learn patterns from data instead of being explicitly programmed.

Neural Network

A computational system loosely inspired by the brain — layers of nodes that transform input into output.

Training Data

The labelled examples used to teach a machine learning model what to do.

Context Window

The maximum number of tokens an LLM can process in a single prompt + response.

Embedding

A numerical representation of text, images, or other data — used to measure semantic similarity.

Fine-tuning

Continuing to train a pre-trained model on a specific dataset to adapt it to a task.

Hallucination

When an LLM generates content that is fluent and confident but factually wrong.

LLM (Large Language Model)

A neural network trained on huge amounts of text — capable of understanding and generating human language.

Prompt Engineering

The discipline of crafting LLM inputs that reliably produce useful outputs.

RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)

A pattern where an LLM retrieves relevant documents before answering — making it factual and up-to-date.

Token

The basic unit of text an LLM processes — typically a word fragment, not a full word.

Transformer

A neural network architecture introduced in 2017 — the foundation of every modern LLM.

Vector Database

A specialised database that stores embeddings and efficiently finds nearest neighbours.

AI Agent

An LLM-powered system that plans, uses tools, and completes multi-step tasks autonomously.

Claude API

The API for accessing Anthropic's Claude models programmatically.

Hugging Face

A platform + library hub for open-source machine learning models and datasets.

LangChain

An open-source framework for building LLM-powered applications in Python and JavaScript.

LangGraph

A LangChain extension for building stateful, multi-agent workflows as graphs.

MCP (Model Context Protocol)

An open standard for connecting LLMs to external tools and data sources.

OpenAI API

The API for accessing OpenAI's GPT models programmatically.

Classification

An ML task that predicts a discrete category — spam vs not-spam, churn vs no-churn.

Cross-Validation

A technique to estimate how well an ML model will generalise to unseen data.

ETL (Extract, Transform, Load)

The process of moving data from source systems into a data warehouse, cleaning it along the way.

Feature Engineering

The process of creating input variables (features) for ML models from raw data.

Regression

An ML task that predicts a continuous number — sales, salary, temperature.

Data Analyst

A professional who turns business data into decisions via SQL, dashboards, and statistical analysis.

Data Scientist

A professional who builds predictive models that drive business decisions.

ML Engineer

A software engineer specialised in deploying and operating ML systems in production.

MLOps Engineer

A specialised ML Engineer focused on infrastructure, CI/CD, monitoring, and reliability for ML systems.

AutoCAD

Autodesk's 2D drafting software — still essential alongside Revit for legacy work and detailed drawings.

BIM 360 / Autodesk Construction Cloud

Autodesk's cloud platform for coordinating BIM projects across distributed teams.

Clash Detection

The process of finding physical conflicts between disciplines in a federated BIM model before they hit site.

Dynamo for Revit

A visual programming language that automates repetitive tasks in Revit — the senior BIM differentiator.

IFC (Industry Foundation Classes)

The open vendor-neutral file format for exchanging BIM models between different software.

ISO 19650

The international standard for organising and managing information through the lifecycle of built assets using BIM.

LOD (Level of Development)

A measure of how reliable and detailed each element of a BIM model is at a given project stage.

Navisworks

Autodesk's coordination + clash detection tool — where federated BIM models are checked for conflicts.

Revit

Autodesk's flagship BIM authoring software — the dominant tool for modelling buildings in India + the Middle East.