AI Glossary

AI, in plain English.

The terms you'll actually run into — defined the way we'd explain them on a call. No jargon, no fluff.

Foundations

AI Agent

Software that can reason and take action across your tools — not just chat.

AI Automation

Using AI to run repetitive business work end-to-end.

LLM (Large Language Model)

The 'brain' that understands and generates language.

Workflow Automation

Connecting your tools so work flows without manual steps.

Agentic AI

AI that takes multi-step action, not just single answers.

AI Infrastructure

The systems that run AI in your business day-to-day.

AI Voice Agent

An AI that answers and makes phone calls in a natural voice.

Inbound Agent

An AI that answers and books every incoming lead.

RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)

Giving an AI your own data to answer from.

MCP (Model Context Protocol)

The standard that lets AI agents securely use your tools.

Human-in-the-Loop

Keeping a person in control of the decisions that matter.

Fine-tuning

Training a model further on your own examples.

Vector Database

How AI stores and searches meaning, not keywords.

Speed to Lead

How fast you respond to a new lead — and why it decides who wins.

AI Lead Qualification

Automatically sorting good-fit leads from the rest.

90-Day Sprint

Echelon's model for building and deploying AI in 90 days.

Book a call and we'll explain exactly what any of this means for your business — in plain English.