From Siri to self-driving cars, artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly integrated into our daily lives.
But did you know there are actually three types of AI?
In this blog post, we’ll explore the differences between artificial narrow intelligence (ANI), artificial general intelligence (AGI), and the elusive artificial superintelligence (ASI).
Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI)
When we think of AI, we often envision advanced robots or futuristic computers that can think and learn like humans. However, there is a big distinction between the different types of AI that exist today.
Also known as weak AI, artificial narrow intelligence (ANI) is a type of AI that focuses on completing very specific tasks.
For example, ANI can be used for facial recognition or personal assistants like Siri or Alexa.
In contrast, artificial general intelligence (AGI) is an AI that has the ability to reason and solve problems like humans do.
Examples of ANI include:
- Virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa
- Fraud detection systems
- Spam filters
- Speech recognition systems
- Image recognition systems
- Robots used in manufacturing
- Translators
- Text and image generators
Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)
Artificial General Intelligence (AGI): Also known as strong AI or human-level AI, AGI is a system that has the ability to understand or learn any intellectual task that a human being can.
This means that, in theory, AGI could do everything that we can do – including things like drive a car or write a novel. However, AGI doesn’t exist yet.
Fictional examples of AGI include:
- Ultron from The Avengers
- SAM from Her
- GERTY from Moon
- Ava from Ex Machina
- Skynet from the Terminator franchise
Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI)
ASI is the highest level of AI, where the AI is not only able to understand and learn like a human, but also has the ability to think and process information at a superhuman level.
The key difference between an AGI and an ASI is that an ASI is much smarter than any human.
Fictional examples of ASI include:
- Jarvis from Iron Man
- Shodan from System Shock
- GLaDOS from Portal
- The AI in Blade Runner 2049
- Computer from WarGames
- Roko’s Basilisk
The Future of AI
Artificial intelligence is still in its early developmental stages, which means there is much speculation about its future potential.
Some believe that AI will eventually be able to surpass human intelligence (referred to as artificial super intelligence, or ASI), while others believe that AI will remain firmly within the realm of narrow intelligence (ANI).
There are a variety of factors that will contribute to the future development of AI, including continued research and investment, advances in computing power and data storage, and the increasing availability of data sets.
It’s difficult to predict exactly how AI will develop over the coming years, but it’s clear that it holds great promise for transforming various industries and improving our quality of life.
English bloke in Bangkok. First used GPT-3 in 2020 and has generated millions of words with it since. Not really much of an achievement but at least it demonstrates a smidgen of authority. Studies natural language processing, Python and Thai in his spare time.
