AI Governance Engineer
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Generative AI

By Updated

AI that outputs new content (text, images, audio, video, code) rather than an estimate about something that exists. Its distinctive risks include confabulation, information integrity, intellectual property and abusive synthetic content 1; its evidence is groundedness, refusal and red-team evals and content marking.

Developed in
ch. 11, Predictive versus generative
Chapters
ch. 11, AI Defined
Contrast with
Predictive AI
Source
1 numbered reference, listed below

Where it is used

7 chapters of the Body of Knowledge use the term. Each link opens the first section that does.

Generative AI: mentions per chapter42 mentions of the term across 7 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterOther chapter08 Regulatory Map: 16 mentions08 Regulatory Map1610 Reading List: 6 mentions10 Reading List611 AI Defined: 3 mentions11 AI Defined313 Risk Management: 1 mention13 Risk Management114 Development: 1 mention14 Development121 AI Laws Worldwide: 10 mentions21 AI Laws Worldwide1022 Principles & Standards: 5 mentions22 Principles & Standards5No mentions in the other 16 chaptersSource: the Body of Knowledgev0.5.0
Generative AI: mentions per chapter42 mentions of the term across 7 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterOther chapter000102030405060708 Regulatory Map: 16 mentions160810 Reading List: 6 mentions61011 AI Defined: 3 mentions3111213 Risk Management: 1 mention11314 Development: 1 mention11415161718192021 AI Laws Worldwide: 10 mentions102122 Principles & Standards: 5 mentions52223Source: the Body of Knowledge v0.5.0
Mentions per chapter How often each chapter names the term, with the chapters the glossary cross-references drawn solid. The longest bar is where to read the term in use; bars spread across many chapters mark a term that runs through the discipline.
Mentions as a table
Mentions of Generative AI per chapter
ChapterMentionsCross-referenced
00 Preface0No
01 Definition0No
02 Why Now0No
03 Values & Principles0No
04 The Stack0No
05 Patterns0No
06 The Role0No
07 Maturity Model0No
08 Regulatory Map16No
10 Reading List6No
11 AI Defined3Yes
12 Governance Program0No
13 Risk Management1No
14 Development1No
15 Deployment0No
16 Fairness & XAI0No
17 Incidents0No
18 EU AI Act0No
19 Privacy & AI0No
20 Existing Law0No
21 AI Laws Worldwide10No
22 Principles & Standards5No
23 AI Agents0No

Patterns that use this term

One pattern page uses the term.

Generative AI: related terms and patternsThe term at the centre; related terms on solid edges, the terms it is contrasted with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer.RelatedContrastColour: stack layer of the pattern03 EvalsGenerative AIRelated terms (4)AI RMF profile · RelatedAI RMF profileCAC (Cyberspace Administration of China) · RelatedCACEvals · RelatedEvalsHallucination · RelatedHallucinationContrast with (1)Predictive AI · ContrastPredictive AIPatterns using it (1)Adversarial Red-Team Suite, 1 mention · Uses the termAdversarial Red-Team Suite
Generative AI: related terms and patternsThe term at the centre; related terms on solid edges, the terms it is contrasted with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer.RelatedContrastColour: stack layer of the pattern03 EvalsRelated terms (4)AI RMF profile · RelatedAI RMF profileCAC (Cyberspace Administration of China) · RelatedCACEvals · RelatedEvalsHallucination · RelatedHallucinationContrast with (1)Predictive AI · ContrastPredictive AIPatterns using it (1)Adversarial Red-Team Suite, 1 mention · Uses the termAdversarial Red-Team SuiteGenerative AI
The term's neighbourhood Terms related to this one on solid edges, terms it is often confused with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer. Follow a dashed edge to check the distinction before you use either term.
Neighbourhood as a table
Neighbourhood of Generative AI
FamilyItemRelation
Related termsAI RMF profileRelated
Related termsCAC (Cyberspace Administration of China)Related
Related termsEvalsRelated
Related termsHallucinationRelated
Contrast withPredictive AIContrast
Patterns using itAdversarial Red-Team Suite, 1 mentionUses the term
  • Hallucination

    Generative output that is stated confidently but is false or unsupported by its sources; NIST's generative AI profile calls it confabulation and lists it…

  • CAC (Cyberspace Administration of China)

    China's internet regulator (国家互联网信息办公室), lead issuer of the binding AI rules (algorithmic recommendation, deep synthesis, generative AI services and…

  • AI RMF profile

    An application of the AI RMF Core to a context.

  • Evals

    Automated tests of a model's or agent's behaviour (capability, safety and adversarial), run as controls, not as one-off research.

Sources

  1. [1] Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework: Generative Artificial Intelligence Profile, NIST AI 600-1 (twelve risks unique to or exacerbated by generative AI; confabulation defined). NIST. 2024-07. https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.AI.600-1 (verified: primary)

Definitions of legal terms paraphrase the cited text, which governs. Dated statements are as of .

Cite this term

García Aibar, J. (2026). Generative AI. In AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis & Body of Knowledge (v0.5.0), Glossary. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197. https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/generative-ai. CC BY 4.0

BibTeX

@misc{aige2026generativeai,
  author  = {Jorge García Aibar},
  title   = {{Generative AI}},
  note    = {Glossary, AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis \& Body of Knowledge, version 0.5.0},
  year    = {2026},
  doi     = {10.5281/zenodo.22956197},
  url     = {https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/generative-ai}
}