Artificial Intelligence is seemingly the most complex and astounding creations of humanity yet. And that is disregarding the fact that the field remains massively undiscovered, which means that every AI application that we see today represents merely the tip of the AI iceberg, as it were. While this fact may have been stated and restated numerous times, it is still hard to comprehensively understand the potential impact of AI in the future. But to understand AI completely, we must know the types of AI. There are ways in which AI generally classified. One type is based on classifying AI and AI-enabled machines based on their similarity to the human mind, and their capability to “think” and perhaps even “feel” like humans. According to this system of categorization, there are four types of AI or AI-based systems: limited memory machines, reactive machines, theory of mind, and self-aware AI.
Reactive Machines
Reactive machines are the most primaeval forms of AI systems
with minimal capability. They imitate the human mind’s ability to respond to different
types of stimuli. These machines do not have memory-based functionality. This
means such machines cannot use prior experiences to inform their present
actions, i.e., they cannot “learn.” These machines cannot be utilized to rely
on memory to improve their operations based on the same hanine pronunciation.
Limited Memory
Limited Memory machines possess the abilities of purely
reactive machines; they are also capable of learning from historical data to
make decisions. Nearly all existing apps that we know of come under this
category of AI. All AI systems nowadays, such as those using deep learning, are
trained by large volumes of training data they store in their memory to form a
reference model for solving future problems.
Theory of Mind
The last two types of AI have been and are found in
abundance; the following type of AI exists, either as a notion or a work in
progress. Theory of mind AI is the next level of AI systems that researchers
are currently engaged in innovating. A theory of mind-level AI will be able to
better understand the entities it interacts with by discerning their emotions,
needs, beliefs and thought processes.
Self-Aware
This is the final stage of AI development to build systems
that can form representations about themselves. Ultimately, AI researchers will
have to understand consciousness and create machines that have it. Self-aware
AI is pretty much self-explanatory; it is an AI that has developed to be so
akin to the human brain that it has forged self-awareness. Building this type
of AI, which is decades, if not centuries, away from materializing. Self-aware
AI is and will always be the ultimate objective of all AI research.