Fundamentals

Narrow AI

Definition

AI systems designed and trained to perform a single, specific task—such as image classification, text translation, or fraud detection. All commercially deployed AI today is narrow AI, which is why domain-specific governance and risk management remain practical priorities.

Related Terms

Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)

A hypothetical level of AI capability matching or surpassing human cognitive performance across all domains, not just narrow tasks. AGI remains a research objective; current enterprise AI systems are all narrow AI. The EU AI Act does not yet regulate AGI specifically.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

A field of computer science focused on creating systems that can perform tasks typically requiring human intelligence. This includes learning from experience, understanding language, recognizing patterns, solving problems, and making decisions.

Foundation Model

A large AI model trained on broad data at scale that can be adapted to a wide range of downstream tasks through fine-tuning or prompting. GPT-4, Claude, and Gemini are examples; under the EU AI Act, providers of GPAI models face specific transparency obligations.

Knowing the Terms Is Step One. Applying Them Is Step Two.

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