7 types of AI (artificial intelligence) with examples

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly advancing technology that has the potential to revolutionize almost every industry today. AI technology is proven to increase process efficiency, automate repetitive tasks, and make accurate predictions about the future.

Artificial Intelligence is widely used in multiple sectors such as IT, healthcare, finance, education, manufacturing, transportation, and more. 

What is artificial intelligence (AI)?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science that focuses on the creation of intelligent machines that can think and learn like humans. 

AI technology enables machines to mimic human intelligence and also improve the capabilities of the human mind. AI systems have the ability to process data, interpret speech, analyse patterns, identify objects, and make decisions on their own. 

Today, AI is being used across different industries from automobiles and finance to healthcare and retail.AI is helping to improve business performance and productivity by automating processes or tasks that are done manually. Companies are increasingly leveraging the power of AI to gain insights into their customer’s preferences and behaviours. Using this data, they can also increase business efficiency and reduce costs.

Some examples of Artificial Intelligence(AI): 

• Robotic assistants
• Computer vision
• Self-driving cars
• Expert systems
• Virtual chatbots
• Facial recognition
• Auto correction or text editors
• Personal recommendations for shopping
• Surgical Robots 
• Virtual travel booking assistants
• Social media monitoring

Now that you know what artificial intelligence is, let us learn what the different types of artificial intelligence (AI) are. 

What are the types of AI (artificial intelligence)?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is divided into two major categories:

AI type 1- Based on capabilities 

AI type 2- Based on functionalities

To understand AI, it is crucial to distinguish between the different types and the current state of the technology. 

There are 3 types of AI (Artificial Intelligence) based on capabilities:- 

1. Narrow AI
2. General AI
3. Super AI

There are 4 types of Artificial Intelligence based on functionalities:- 

    4. Reactive Machine AI

    5. Limited Memory AI

   6. Theory of Mind AI

   7. Self-awareness AI

Artificial intelligence based on capabilities

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1. Narrow AI or Weak AI

Narrow AI or Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI)  is a type of Artificial Intelligence that focuses on one specific task or area. It is designed to perform a specific set of tasks and it has the ability to learn from data. It can be used to automate various day-to-day activities, help in decision-making, maximize efficiency, and cut down costs.

It is being widely used in industries like finance, healthcare, robotics, retail, etc. Narrow AI has the potential to transform businesses as it allows you to focus more on complex tasks while machines can take care of routine tasks. 

Examples of Narrow AI:

• Virtual assistants like Siri by Apple, Alexa by Amazon, 
• IBM’s Watson
• Self-driving cars
• Image or facial recognition software
• Disease mapping & prediction tools

Today, AI technology is being used in multiple industries including Healthcare, Finance, Manufacturing, Logistics, Transportation, Retail, Digital Marketing, and much more.

2. General AI  or  Strong AI

General AI or Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is a type of AI where machines are designed to think, reason, and act like humans. It has the ability to learn, reason, and make decisions in a wide variety of contexts. Still, in its nascent stages, the concept of General AI has not yet been achieved by researchers.

General AI can be used to perform multiple tasks such as NLP (natural language processing), image recognition, robotics, generative AI, and many more. It can also help automate complex tasks that would otherwise require human intervention. General AI has the potential to change how we interact with technology in the future. 

3. Super AI or Superintelligent AI

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Super AI or Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) would be capable of outperforming humans. ASI machines are self-aware and expected to surpass human intelligence. They can perform any task better than humans.  The concept of Super AI is still hypothetical. 

Artificial superintelligence is considered the most advanced and powerful type of AI with characteristics like problem-solving, thinking, decision-making, etc. ASI can also interpret human emotions and experiences. 

Artificial intelligence based on functionalities

There are four types of Artificial Intelligence based on functionalities. Let us briefly explore them one after the other. 

4. Reactive machines

Reactive machines are the oldest and the most basic forms of AI systems that are purely reactive. They have limited capability and do not have functionality based on memory. In other words, Reactive machines do not possess the ability to learn from previous experiences and respond to actions.

These types of machines emulate the human mind’s ability to respond to different kinds of inputs. Reactive machines could only be used for automatically responding to a limited set or combination of inputs. 

For example, IBM’s Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer that beat chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov in 1997, was a reactive machine. This computer played chess based on real-time intuitions. 

5. Limited memory AI

Limited memory machines possess the capabilities of reactive machines and are also capable of learning from past experiences and using that data to make decisions.

Almost all present-day AI systems such as chatbots, self-driving cars, virtual assistants, etc fall under this category of AI. 

Limited theory machines store large volumes of data to form a reference for solving future problems. For example, an image recognition system will be loaded with multiple training images and labels to teach the name of the object it is scanning. So when it scans an image next time, it uses these past images as a reference for recognizing the new one. 

6. Theory of mind AI

Theory of mind is the next advanced level in AI systems that scientists are trying to develop. It exists only as a hypothetical concept now.

Theory of mind AI machines plays a crucial role in psychology as they will focus on emotional intelligence. This type of AI needs a clear understanding of human feelings and behavior within an environment. 

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Two examples of the theory of mind machines are the robots Kismet and Sophia. Kismet, a robot developed in the 1990s at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Professor Cynthia Breazeal, was capable of recognizing human facial emotions and could replicate those emotions with its facial features, eyes, lips, ears, eyebrows, and eyelids. 

Sophia is a humanoid robot created by Hanson Robotics in 2016 and is known for its prominent human-like appearance, facial expressions, and behavior as compared to previous variants.  

7. Self-aware AI

Self-awareness is the final and most advanced stage of AI, which is currently a hypothetical concept. This will be possible when machines develop self-awareness and have human-like consciousness. Self-aware AI machines will have the same needs, emotions, and desires as humans. 

Developing Self-aware AI machines might take several decades or even centuries. Self-awareness can be considered as an extension of the theory of mind concept. The difference will be that self-aware machines will have thoughts and reactions of their own. 

Branches of Artificial Intelligence

There are many branches of AI, each with its own focus and set of techniques. Some of the branches of AI include:

• Machine learning (ML): ML, a subset of AI, involves developing algorithms to interpret, process, and analyse data to solve various real-world problems. These programs or algorithms are designed such that they learn and improve over time when exposed to new data.
• Deep learning: Deep Learning is a branch of machine learning that makes use of artificial neural networks to gain insights from data and solve more advanced problems. The deep learning algorithm is the logic behind facial & speech recognition, virtual assistants like Alexa & Siri, self-driving cars, and much more. 
• Natural language processing (NLP): It deals with the interaction between computers and human language. Natural Language Processing (NLP) is used to process & interpret human language which is useful in many applications like speech recognition, text analysis, translation, etc. 
• Robotics: It is a branch of artificial intelligence that deals with the design and development of robots. AI robots can be used to automate different tasks in multiple industries like healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, etc. They can learn from experience and work collaboratively with humans. 
• Expert systems: Expert systems are AI-based computer programs designed to mimic the reasoning and decision-making abilities of a human expert. They are useful in many applications like financial planning, customer service, medical diagnosis, virus detection, and so on.   
• Fuzzy Logic: Fuzzy logic is a computing approach that resembles human reasoning. FL is based on the principles of “degrees of truth” instead of the modern computer logic i.e. boolean in nature. It can be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of both.

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Conclusion

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a highly fascinating and fast-evolving field of science. Although researchers are continuing their efforts to achieve General AI and Super AI, they still have a long way to go.

Narrow AI is the only type of artificial intelligence that humans have developed, and this field has seen great progress in the last few years. It is no secret that the future of AI holds great potential. 

Earn an Executive MBA in Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain from Eaton Business School.

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