Not All Artificial Intelligence Systems are Created Equal

From virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa, to recommendations from a music or movie streaming service, to self-driving cars, Artificial Intelligence is all around us. And yet, few technologies are as polarizing and misunderstood. The notion of Artificial Intelligence often generates either awe or fear in most people, but whether you believe it will save the world or enslave the world, the first thing you need to know is that there is more than one type of AI. General Artificial Intelligence (also known as "Artificial General Intelligence" or "AGI") is what most people are thinking of when they talk about AI: a computer that's as "smart" as a person--one that exhibits reason and common sense, makes decisions, perceives the world around it and can learn new things on its own. Such a system would require immense computational power that, when combined with advanced robotics, would be able to carry out any task a person could do, as well as many others we could not.