Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a major frontier in computer science research. Although AI has broad application across many medical fields, it will have particular utility in ophthalmology and will dramatically change the diagnostic and treatment pathways for many eye conditions such as corneal ectasias, glaucoma, age‐related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. However, given that AI has primarily been driven as a computer science, its concepts and terminology are unfamiliar to many medical professionals. Important key terms such as machine learning and deep learning are often misunderstood and incorrectly used interchangeably. This article presents an overview of AI and new developments relevant to ophthalmology.