By Kevin Casey – The expanding universe of artificial intelligence includes many terms and technologies. That naturally leads to overlap and confusion. AI and machine learning are mentioned together so often that some people – non-technical folks especially – might think they’re one and the same. They’re related but not actually interchangeable terms: Machine learning is a subset, or a specific discipline, of AI.

That’s a relatively straightforward example. Start adding other terms and technologies into the mix – deep learning is yet another subset of machine learning, for instance – and the opportunities abound for further misconceptions.

Deciphering the differences between terms and technologies takes a twist with robotic process automation (RPA) and AI. We’re going to break it down so you can explain it – even to non-technical audiences.

In fact, there’s some disagreement on the basic relationship between the two. While just about everyone agrees that machine learning is an AI discipline, that same consensus doesn’t exist with RPA and AI. As our research report “Executive’s guide to real-world AI,” produced by Harvard Business Review Analytics, notes: “Some question whether RPA qualifies as AI.” (The report goes on to point out that by the AI definition it uses, RPA does meet the criteria.) Read On: