Types of AI - Narrow AI vs General AI

Learning Objectives

• Distinguish between Narrow AI and General AI
• Understand current capabilities and limitations of AI
• Identify examples of Narrow AI in daily life

Narrow AI (Weak AI)

Narrow AI, also called Weak AI, is designed to perform a specific task or set of tasks. It operates within a limited context and cannot transfer its knowledge to other domains.

Examples of Narrow AI:

• Virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa (speech recognition and task execution)
• Recommendation systems on Netflix or Amazon (pattern matching)
• Email spam filters (classification)
• Facial recognition systems (computer vision)
• Autonomous vehicles (perception and decision-making within driving)

All AI systems in use today are Narrow AI. They excel at their specific tasks but cannot adapt to fundamentally different problems without retraining.

General AI (Strong AI)

General AI, or Strong AI, refers to machines that possess the ability to understand, learn, and apply knowledge across a wide range of tasks—similar to human intelligence. A General AI system could transfer knowledge from one domain to another and reason about unfamiliar situations.

Current Status: General AI does not exist yet. It remains a theoretical concept and long-term research goal. Experts disagree on whether and when it will be achieved—predictions range from decades to never.

Superintelligence

Beyond General AI lies the concept of Superintelligence—AI that surpasses human intelligence across all domains. This is even more speculative and raises important ethical and safety questions.

Why This Distinction Matters

Understanding that today's AI is Narrow AI helps set realistic expectations. While AI can be incredibly powerful for specific applications, it's not "intelligent" in the human sense and requires careful problem scoping and data preparation.