Artificial Intelligence or AI is a term that we hear more and more, because it is already part of our lives. However, we still do not distinguish the different types of Artificial Intelligence that exist. In this post, you will learn about the different types that exist and its main characteristics.
The 4 types of Artificial Intelligence
The functioning of Artificial Intelligence (AI) depends, above all, of the algorithms and processes used to develop it or the objectives pursued with it. In this way, we can talk about different types of AI.
One way to distinguish between types of AI can be found in the categorization made by Arend Hintze, professor of integrative biology and engineering and computer science at Michigan State University. Hintze distinguishes between 4 types of Artificial Intelligence, both existing today and yet to be developed. We share them below:
1. Reactive machines
The reactive machines They are the most basic type of Artificial Intelligence. They are based on decisions about the present, that is, they have no memory and therefore cannot look to the past to learn from past experiences and are incapable of evolving. This is the first stage of any AI system.
An example of this type of AI is found in Deep Blue, the computer that beat the champion Kasparov at chess. This computer was capable of recognizing the figures on the board and processing 200 million moves in a second, but that was its only objective, to process the information and data in search of the best move in real time based on the opponent’s moves. .
Static machine learning models are reactive machines. Their architecture is the simplest and they can be found in GitHub repositories all over the web. These models can be downloaded, marketed, passed around, and loaded into a developer’s toolkit with ease.
2. Limited memory
Memory-limited AI machinesThey are able to look at the past, but in a limited way and in a certain period of time. In this way, they can store the information they collect for a certain time and add it to their programming to create new behavior and response patterns for the near future. Therefore, they are not capable of making complete and lasting representations over time.
We can say that almost all existing applications that we know of belong to this category of AI. For example, an image recognition AI is trained using thousands of images and their labels to teach it to name the objects it scans. When such an AI scans an image, it uses the training images as references to understand the content of the image presented to it and, based on its “learning experience,” labels new images with increasing accuracy.
Almost all current AI applications, from chatbots and virtual assistants to autonomous vehicles, they are powered by limited-memory AI.
3. Theory of mind
While the previous two types of AI are found in abundance, the following two types of AI exist, for now, either as a concept or as a work in progress.
Theory of mind presents systems or machines whose AI allows them to understand how their environment works, that is, the people, objects and other systems around them. They are systems capable of learning based on our behaviors and deducing and knowing what our tastes are, needs, desires or even how we expect to be treated.
This type of Artificial Intelligence would have the ability to understand the world around it and when fully developed, it will be capable of social interaction closer to that of a human being.
4. Self-awareness
This type of AI only exists hypothetically, because currently there is no type of AI with self-awareness. It is believed that designing this type of AI is very far from materializing. It is and always will be the ultimate goal of all AI research.
It would be an Artificial Intelligence that has developed self-awareness and is able to recognize itself as an independent entity, which can make its own decisions, differentiating between itself and the objects, people and systems that surround it. It would be the closest thing to the human brain.
We have shared the main types of Artificial Intelligence and the characteristics of each one.
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