A field guide to AI positions

Narrow AI / specialized AI

Capability concept.

Source is over 18 months old.

Publication dates and source age

Sources counted: 1

Newest dated source: 2023-11-04

Assessed at this edition's evidence cutoff: 2026-09-15. 18-month boundary: 2025-03-15.

Publication age does not tell us whether a claim is still valid. Reading an old source again does not make its publication date newer. An update date does not establish that the passage we used was updated.

Open in the glossary Reading notes · Structured record

Prepared with AI assistance. Not independently fact-checked. Original sources and qualifications are below.

In plain language

AI for a limited task or set of tasks. Specialized software can perform very well within that scope. [1]

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Explanation based on the linked sources. Claim ID: claim-term-narrow-ai-1a5192ba3d7825ca26b24a72. Edition 0.20.0.

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Limits & distinctions

Breadth, performance and autonomy are different questions. Strong task results do not determine how much control an application should receive. [1]

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Explanation based on the linked sources. Claim ID: claim-term-narrow-ai-09422ce4d5c74cb753a9bb98. Edition 0.20.0.

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A fuller explanation

Narrow describes breadth, not quality. A research framework separates how many kinds of tasks a system handles from how well it performs them. [1]

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Explanation based on the linked sources. Claim ID: claim-term-narrow-ai-1e4c26398ee834b2e16dc7b8. Edition 0.20.0.

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How it relates to the map

Map context: keep specialist performance separate from claims about general intelligence. [1]

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Editorial interpretation or qualification. Claim ID: claim-term-narrow-ai-25f52a21ad9f2e54a62ed1b2. Edition 0.20.0.

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https://theaiatlas.org/ideas/narrow-ai/

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Sources and what we read

  1. 1. Levels of AGI for Operationalizing Progress on the Path to AGI

    Meredith Ringel Morris and coauthors / arXiv · First-hand source · Published 2023-11-04 · Updated 2025-09-24 · Material last read 2026-09-15

    Source is over 18 months old.

    Publication dates and source age

    Sources counted: 1

    Newest dated source: 2023-11-04

    Assessed at this edition's evidence cutoff: 2026-09-15. 18-month boundary: 2025-03-15.

    Publication age does not tell us whether a claim is still valid. Reading an old source again does not make its publication date newer. An update date does not establish that the passage we used was updated.

    Read scope is described in the source note.

    No archive check recorded.

    Read abstract, Table 1 and autonomy discussion. Proposed distinctions between breadth, performance and autonomy; no current model classification adopted.

    Source ID: agi-levels

Edition and machine-readable evidence

Content version 0.20.0. Evidence cutoff 2026-09-15; this does not mean every source was read on that day.

Pinned complete dataset · Complete evidence page · Agent consumption guide