The 3 types of Artificial Intelligence explained

Artificial Intelligence (AI) isn’t just one thing; it comes in levels. From Siri giving you weather updates to Generative AI such as ChatGPT, which you most likely know how to use, to self-driving car software and recommendation systems, to more sophisticated machines that one day might outsmart us, AI has evolved faster than it was predicted and there is no signs of slowing it down.

With the current Narrow AI I could also create the above image using DALL-E, this is something I couldn’t do years ago when I started writing about Artificial Intelligence. Only stock photos were available.

The evolution of AI can be divided into three main types of intelligence: Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI), Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), and Artificial Superintelligence (ASI).

Understanding these categories is essential to grasp where the technology is today and where it is going. At this point, I firmly believe that everyone should know and understand these three types of AI.

My writing about AI is not something that just happened yesterday, or today. It has been a process of over eighteen years of research, interviews, and discussions with academics and technologists, touching on various industries and applications.

You can like it or not. But you can’t ignore it. AI is set to become the core of everything humans are going to be interacting with in the forthcoming years and beyond. Even today, you use AI in one way or another, sometimes not realising you are using a form of artificial intelligence.

Then we have AI-embedded robots. Robots and humanoid robots are programmable entities designed to carry out a series of tasks. When programmers embed human-like intelligence, behavior, emotions, and even when they engineer ethics into robots (I specifically wrote about this back in 2014 for EETimes) we say they create robots with an embedded artificial intelligence that is able to mimic any task a human can perform.

Depending on the type of tasks carried out by AI agents and AI-embedded robots, AI has been divided into different categories. It is worth noting, however, that AI is a fast-evolving technology. In the future, AI is going to look and behave quite differently from what it is today.

To be prepared for the future, humans also need to be prepared for the challenges, risks, and changes AI will bring to society and humankind as a whole.

So, what Artificial Intelligence actually is?

"AI is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs." - Alan Turing

The three types of AI

We can clearly categorise AI into three types:

Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI)

Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI), also known as Narrow AI or Weak AI, is a type of Artificial Intelligence focused on one single narrow task. It possesses a narrow-range of abilities. This is the only AI in existence today.

Narrow AI is something most of us interact with on a daily basis. It’s machine intelligence that uses Natural Language Processing (NLP).

By understanding speech and text in natural language this AI is programmed to interact with humans in a personalised, natural way.

One of the most positive ways AI systems are used today is in medical diagnostics, especially to quickly detect, diagnose, and treat cancers and other illnesses with extreme accuracy by replicating human-like cognition and reasoning.

Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)

When we talk about Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) we refer to a type of AI that is about as capable as a human. This level of AI is also called Strong AI.

AGI is still an emerging field, though it already exists in contained environments. AGI possesses human-level reasoning, problem-solving capabilities, and adaptability across a wide range of tasks.

This Strong AI understands context, transfers learning to new domains quite similar to a human adult’s intelligence. Despite being confined to contained environments, there have already been reports from some people who have interacted with AGI.

Here is where we pause and question ourselves if this development should continue or if it should stop right where it is now. Do we really need to create a new intelligent species that will outsmart us?

As history has shown many times, humans are prone to creating technologies that become dangerous to human existence. Why is trying to create algorithms to replicate brain function different? Humans will have to accept the consequences this might bring.

Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI)

Also known as Super AI. Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI) is way into the future, perhaps. Or, that is what we believe. To reach this point and to be called an ASI, an AI needs to surpass the best, most capable humans’ performance at absolutely everything in terms of cognition, creativity, social skills, and decision-making. The Super AI type is achieved when AI is more capable than a human.

This type of AI will be able to perform extraordinary well at things such as arts, decision-making, and emotional relationships.

Strong AI could operate independently with its own goals, beliefs, and even emotions.

These things are today part of what differentiates a machine from a human. In other words, things that are believed to be strictly human.

However, many could argue that humans have not yet mastered the art of emotional relationships, or good decision-making. Or to live in harmony with other animal species, or even their own species. (yes, I never include myself) How, then, would a future where the human species co-lives with the AI species be?

Does it mean that perhaps, going into the future, Artificial Super Intelligence will master areas where humans have failed? And, will that mean the end of the human species? In other words, is human extinction a possibility?