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Plain-language AI glossary

Term 09TechniquesMeaning / context / connections

Techniques / Definition

Function Calling (Tool Use)

An AI capability where the model can decide to invoke external functions or APIs based on the conversation context.

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01

MeaningThe one-sentence definition.

02

ContextHow the idea works in practice.

03

UsesWhere the concept becomes useful.

01 / Plain-language context

How Function Calling (Tool Use) works.

Function calling lets AI models take actions, not just generate text. You define available functions with their parameters, and the model decides when to call them. Example: a travel assistant with functions like searchFlights(origin, destination, date) and bookHotel(city, checkin, checkout). The model parses user intent, selects the right function, and extracts parameters. OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google all support this. It's the foundation of AI agents.

02 / Practical uses

Where it helps.

  1. 01AI agents that take actions
  2. 02Database queries from natural language
  3. 03API orchestration
  4. 04Multi-step workflows
03 / Keep exploring
AI AgentAn AI system that can autonomously plan, reason, use tools, and take actions to accomplish goals with minimal human intervention.Prompt EngineeringThe practice of crafting effective instructions for AI models to produce desired outputs consistently.MCP (Model Context Protocol)An open standard by Anthropic that provides a universal way for AI models to connect to external data sources and tools.