What is Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)?

What is Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), and how does it differ from narrow or weak AI?

Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)represents a significant leap forward from current artificial intelligence (AI)capabilities. While today's AI systems excel at specific, pre-defined tasks – a phenomenon often referred to as "narrow AI" or "weak AI" – AGI aims for something far more ambitious: human-level cognitive abilities. This means an AGI system would possess the capacity for generalized learning, problem-solving across diverse domains, and adaptation to new situations without explicit programming. Learn more about the distinction between AGI and AI from AWS.

The key difference lies in generalizability. Narrow AI systems, such as those used for image recognition or language translation, are trained on vast datasets to perform exceptionally well within their limited scope. However, they lack the ability to apply this knowledge to unrelated tasks. In contrast, AGI envisions systems capable of self-teaching, reasoning, and problem-solving across various domains, just like humans. For example, a narrow AI might master chess but wouldn't be able to write a poem or drive a car. An AGI, theoretically, could achieve mastery in all three.

Another critical distinction is adaptability. Narrow AI systems require significant retraining or fine-tuning when faced with unfamiliar tasks. An AGI, however, would demonstrate the capacity to learn and adapt to new situations without extensive re-programming, echoing the human ability to apply existing knowledge to novel contexts. This ability to self-improve and generalize learning is the defining characteristic of AGI, setting it apart from the current state of AI.