Plain English
Multimodal
An AI that works with more than text: images, audio, video or documents.
Able to take in or produce more than one kind of content, such as reading a photo, listening to audio or creating an image, not just text. The big assistants are all multimodal to some degree.
Why it matters
A lot of small-business information lives in photos, PDFs, screenshots and calls. Multimodal tools can use it directly, but check what they read, since text in images can be misread.
At work
A plumber photographs a water heater’s label and asks for the model number and compatible parts, then checks them against the manufacturer’s manual.
Think of it like a colleague who can read the report, look at the photos and listen to the voicemail, not only read the email.
Related terms
Where it appears