What’s the difference between artificial intelligence and synthetic intelligence —and why does it matter?

To understand our current moment in AI, it helps to know a little bit about diamonds. Cubic zirconia looks like a diamond, but jewelers call it a simulant: an imitation that plays the part at a glance but does not survive close inspection. A lab-grown diamond, by contrast, has the same carbon structure, the same hardness, and cuts glass just as effectively as a mined one. These diamonds, sometimes called synthetic diamonds, aren’t imitations of diamonds; they simply are diamonds—just manufactured, rather than pulled out of the ground.