Artificial Intelligence (AI) 2024 Guide: The Basics

Artificial intelligence (AI) is technology that simulates human intelligence and problem-solving abilities. Today, AI is found in many areas of our lives from Siri and Alexa to the suggestions our streaming platforms make to chatbots to facial recognition software. The use of AI is becoming more prevalent in most areas of life. For example, AI is being used to identify health problems, provide students with customized learning experiences, mechanize labor tasks, and analyze enormous amounts of data. Robotics, autonomous vehicles, and other artificial intelligence applications are changing the way we live, learn, and work. 

AI is broken down into two categories: weak AI and strong AI. The AI of today is known as weak (or narrow) AI. This type of AI can automate tasks and analyze data, but it does not have feelings, emotions, or a sense of self. It also is unable to truly solve problems. It needs humans to tell it what to do.

Strong AI is a theoretical form of AI and does not currently exist. The types of strong AI are artificial general intelligence (AGI) and artificial super intelligence (ASI). AGI is the type of artificial intelligence that could potentially teach itself new skills and how to solve problems without human involvement. ASI theoretically could take artificial intelligence one step further to surpass human capabilities and gain consciousness. If this happens, we will reach the point of singularity. Will AGI and ASI ever come to pass? Only time will tell. 

There are seven subfields of AI: computer vision, deep learning (a type of machine learning), expert systems, fuzzy logic, machine learning, natural language processing, and robotics. This libguide offers library resources to help you understand the different subfields as well as other AI topics.