AI to Gen AI to AGI

[edit] What is artificial intelligence?

The UK Government’s 2023 policy paper on ‘A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation’ defined AI, AI systems or AI technologies as “products and services that are ‘adaptable’ and ‘autonomous’.” The adaptability of AI refers to AI systems, after being trained, often developing the ability to perform new ways of finding patterns and connections in data that are not directly envisioned by their human programmers. The autonomy of AI refers to some AI systems that can make decisions without the intent or ongoing control of a human. (This definition also appears in the UK Government 'Artificial intelligence (AI) glossary' update, January 2024.

[edit] What is generative artificial intelligence?

The 'CIOB Artificial Intelligence (AI) Playbook 2024', glossary of terms, published by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) describes generative AI as 'an AI model that generates text, images, audio, video or other media in response to user prompts. It uses machine learning techniques to create new data that has similar characteristics to the data it was trained on. Generative AI applications include chatbots, photo and video filters, and virtual assistants.'

[edit] What is general-purpose artificial intelligence?

The 'CIOB Artificial Intelligence (AI) Playbook 2024', glossary of terms, published by the Chartered Institute of Building(CIOB) describes general-purpose AI as often referring to 'AI models that can be adapted to a wide range of applications.' Foundation models are one example of these, which are machine learning models trained on a vast amount of data so that it can easily be adapted for a wide range of general tasks, including being able to generate outputs (generative AI). Another example are large language models which are a type of foundation model trained on vast amounts of text to carry out natural language processing tasks. on the other hand narrow AI, or weak AI are 'models designed to perform a specific task (such as speech recognition) and cannot be adapted to other tasks.'

[edit] What is artificial general intelligence?

Artificial general intelligence (AGI) describes a (currently theoretical) development in artificial intelligence (AI) software implying a stronger version of standard AI. This software would go beyond the performance of current models that act within a set of predetermined parameters associated with, in effect a kind of training. AGI software would have a greater ability teach itself, a human-like intelligence that could in effect carry out a variety of tasks that it has not been pre-set, programmed, developed or trained to do. It describes the currently theoretical pursuit of systems that 'possess autonomous self-control, a reasonable degree of self-understanding, and the ability to learn new skills.'

The term AGI was initially used in the late 70s by Mark Gubrud to describe the implications of fully automated military production and operations, an agent with the ability to 'satisfy goals in a wide range of environments' was proposed by Marcus Hutter in 2000.

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