Artificial Intelligence or AI as it is popularly called has become an all-pervasive topic these days. Essentially, it is a technology with widespread usage in contemporary as well as futuristic machines. However, the unlimited and currently unexplored potential of this technology has steadily been the ideal breeding ground for many sci-fi novels, movies and television shows.

Today, there are self-driving cars, computers that can beat us at mental games like chess, and AI-powered robots like Sophia that can hold conversations on complex topics. Yet, what we have currently is not even the tip of the AI-iceberg. Researchers and AI experts are of the opinion that we are unlikely to see intelligent humanoids roam our streets for at least another couple of decades. So those of us who expect to see AI like Jarvis can hold their horses for the time being.

Fancy imaginations aside, the fact is that the contemporary AI systems are machines capable of processing humongous volumes of data and making calculations at a very fast rate to deliver near real-time resolutions to complex inputs. An AI system is usually capable of performing a given task better and faster than humans. For instance, the AI developed to play chess can beat even the best grandmasters of the world and the AI driving a vehicle might become better than a human driver. However, these are not machines that can overtake humans in multiple areas of operations. It is because these are not machines capable of independent thinking. This brings us to the important question: what are the various types of AI?

With the evolution and digital transformation of the IT sector, AI has now branched out into the following major categories.

In this age of digital transformation, AI is becoming increasingly involved with various aspects of human life. Whether it be IoT-powered smart homes, self-driven cars or voice-controlled digital assistants, these self-learning machines are making things more seamless and smoother for us. Although, we are far from the scenario where an existential battle between humans and machines could occur, the future of AI is definitely bound to erase the boundaries that we know so far.

This is essentially the digital transformation of the reactive machines but can also derive insights from past data to improve their performance. The modern AI applications are primarily all Limited Memory Machines. They learn by using massive data volumes stored in their memory to create a solution for future problems. For instance, a language identification AI is fed with the scripts of various languages, and when it receives a new text input, it identifies the language type by using the stored languages as a reference and matching it with the identical script. Virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri or the self-driven cars referred above are all examples of limited memory AI systems.

We have already seen the reactive and limited memory machines forms of AI which are prevalent all around us. However, theory of mind AI is a futuristic technology which is presently under development. An AI machine based on this concept will be able to have a greater understanding of the humans it interacts with especially in terms of needs, emotions, way of thinking and so on. There is already a lot of work being done on integrating AI with emotions, and most of the leading AI developers consider it to be the next logical step.

Self-aware machines are the ultimate stage of AI development, and until now, they are only a theory. As the name suggests, these are expected to be machines that will be evolved enough to replicate the human brain and feature self-awareness. Since, we are not even close to understanding the true dynamics of human brain, it will take several decades or maybe centuries to build machines integrated with its independent intelligence. This will be not only a technology capable of understanding human emotions and traits, but, will also have emotions and traits of its own. This kind of self-aware technology is what most anti-AI theorists are afraid of.

Since it will be driven by its own emotions, beliefs and probably ambitions, the doomsday theorists believe it will overpower humans and take charge of the planet. It might become consumed with self-preservation and since it will be capable of calculating and analyzing situations better than the humans, it could outsmart us. On the other hand, there is the group of AI developers which believes that such AI capable of independent thinking and decision-making might actually come up with ideas that would boost the development of human civilization.

In this age of digital transformation, AI is becoming increasingly involved with various aspects of human life. Whether it be IoT-powered smart homes, self-driven cars or voice-controlled digital assistants, these self-learning machines are making things more seamless and smoother for us. Although, we are far from the scenario where an existential battle between humans and machines could occur, the future of AI is definitely bound to erase the boundaries that we know so far.