Artificial intelligence is classified according to the general working principles and the functions it performs. Based on this, there are 7 types of artificial intelligence, namely:
1. Artificial Narrow Intelligence
This type of AI is about checking certain things without the ability to learn. This type of AI is usually trained in a certain field and focused on learning to do a particular type of action. For example, if the AI is taught to recognize animals from paintings, they will know how to do this and nothing more. Everything is about training, the network, and the programming behind that indicates possible outputs and the best answers.
2. Artificial General Intelligence
This type of artificial intelligence is built to remember, think, and perform different processes similar to a human being. It is designed to perform complex operations that simulate thinking, learning, and other intellectual tasks.
3. Artificial Superintelligence
This type of AI is a model built to learn far beyond human learning and memorization capabilities. It involves the development of consciousness and self-awareness, and at the moment it is only a theoretical idea.
4. Reactive Machines
This type of artificial intelligence was the basis of AI. Reactive machines have no memory capacity, but they can respond very quickly to a limited number of inputs. The limits of this type of AI come from its inability to memorize, learn and interpret information. It can be very fast and great, but only in performing one type of task; the network can help us with only one type of task.
5. Limited Memory
AI with limited memory is about networks trained to answer and solve a limited number of problems. These networks were trained on a limited number of situations, and can work only with the type of situations they were trained on. This type of artificial intelligence has learned to predict situations starting from the situations it has encountered before during training.
For example, if the network was trained on recognizing cats from images and counting them, then it will help us only with this type of task. If we give it the task of recognizing and counting other animals from a picture, it will not be able to do that because it was not trained for that.
6. Theory of Mind
At the moment, this idea is only at the theoretical level. It is about the intention to develop an AI capable of emotional recognition. This involves reading emotions based on various information like voice and body language, and predicting actions based on these interpretations.
For now, we have AI networks trained on recognizing emotions, but only from written content. These AI tools are great to use in research, given their fast way of data selection and processing. Yet, their use is not limited to this. It represents a great tool in communication, designing marketing strategies, improving user experience on various platforms, etc.
7. Self-aware
This type of AI is also at the theoretical level at the moment. It is about the AI capacity of self-awareness. This implies not only that the AI will feel emotions, but also that it will be aware of its own existence. This type of artificial intelligence is beyond human control as it possesses all human competencies and a much greater capacity for information retention, processing, and access.
Sources:
Urwin Matthew, 2024. 7 Types of Artificial Intelligence. Available at: builtin.com/artificial-intelligence/types-of-artificial-intelligence
Google Cloud, 2024. What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Available at: cloud.google.com/learn/what-is-artificial-intelligence#section-3
Great Learning, 2025. What is Artificial Intelligence? Types, History and Applications. Available at: mygreatlearning.com/blog/what-is-artificial-intelligence