Artificial intelligence, or AI, is becoming more and more a part of our daily lives, even if we don’t always realize it. Because it’s here and will only become more important in the future, it’s essential to understand the four types of artificial intelligence, how they differ, and which ones are in use today.

Artificial intelligence is measured in comparison to the functions of the human mind. A true, fully-featured AI would be able to replicate and probably extend the functions of a human brain.

It would be self-aware, have consciousness and memories, be able to learn and make predictions about likely future events. It would be able to do these things on its own, without human intervention or input from programmers.

The first and most basic type of AI are Reactive Machines. These machines have intelligence that exists almost entirely in the present moment (eat your heart out, meditators!). Programmers build Reactive Machines around complex sets of rules. In addition to those rules, they can contain neural networks that allow them to learn and adapt in the moment.