GenAI

Overview

Generative AI (GenAI) refers to a class of artificial intelligence models that can create new content — text, images, code, audio, or video — based on patterns they’ve learned from large datasets.

Unlike traditional AI, which is mostly used for classification, prediction, or automation, GenAI is focused on generation.

Key Characteristics

• Content creation: Produces text, images, audio, code, or video.
• Prompt-driven: Works from instructions (prompts) given by a user.
• Pre-trained on large datasets: Learns language, vision, or multimodal patterns.
• Flexible use cases: Can summarize, translate, brainstorm, write, or design.

Advantages

• Boosts productivity (e.g., generating code snippets, test cases, or documentation).
• Enhances creativity (story writing, marketing content, design ideas).
• Supports automation of repetitive tasks.
• Enables personalization at scale (e.g., custom recommendations, tailored content).

Drawbacks and Challenges

• Accuracy issues: Can “hallucinate” (produce incorrect or made-up facts).
• Bias risks: Reflects biases in training data.
• IP / copyright concerns: Generated content may overlap with copyrighted material.
• Security risks: Could be misused for phishing, deepfakes, or misinformation.
• Cost & compute: Large models require significant infrastructure.

Examples

• Text (LLMs): ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini
• Code: GitHub Copilot generating C# methods or SQL queries
• Images: DALL·E, MidJourney, Stable Diffusion
• Audio/Video: ElevenLabs (voice cloning), Runway (video generation)

Example in C# (using Azure OpenAI)

using Azure.AI.OpenAI;

var client = new OpenAIClient(
    new Uri("https://your-endpoint.openai.azure.com/"),
    new AzureKeyCredential("your-api-key")
);

var response = await client.GetChatCompletionsAsync(
    deploymentOrModelName: "gpt-4",
    new ChatCompletionsOptions
    {
        Messages = { new ChatMessage(ChatRole.User, "Write a C# function to reverse a string") }
    }
);

Console.WriteLine(response.Value.Choices[0].Message.Content);

This code uses Azure OpenAI to generate C# code from a natural-language prompt, although why you'd want to do this in code for this example confuses me...

When to Use GenAI?

• To accelerate development (code generation, documentation, testing)
• For customer-facing experiences (chatbots, virtual assistants)
• In creative industries (content, design, marketing)
• For data analysis & summarization (reports, logs, research)

Summary

GenAI = AI that creates. It’s powerful for productivity, creativity, and automation — but it must be used carefully due to accuracy, bias, and ethical risks.