The difference comes when you interface with other well-typed code and want to convert from any/unknown down to a specific type. For example: function handl

The difference comes when you interface with other well-typed code and want to convert from any/unknown down to a specific type. For example: function handleString(s: string) { //... } declare const a: any; declare const u: unknown; handleString(a); // works with zero intervention handleString(u); // error: Argument of type 'unknown' is not assignable to parameter of type 'string' handleString(u as string); // works again with explicit re-typing