5. Embodied AI
- Scope: Integration with physical or simulated bodies.
- Function: Brings AI into real-world interaction or simulated environments—links perception, action, and reasoning.
- Analogy: A robot or avatar that can feel, move, and interact in a space.
- Example: Boston Dynamics’ robots, AI avatars in VR, autonomous drones.
4. Generative AI
- Scope: Creation and synthesis.
- Function: Produces content—text, images, music, code—based on learned patterns.
- Analogy: Artist, composer, or writer inside a machine.
- Example: ChatGPT writing essays, DALL·E generating images, music AI composing original tracks.
3. Agentic AI
- Scope: Decision-making and action.
- Function: Not just passive observation—this AI can plan, execute, and influence outcomes.
- Analogy: An autonomous agent with goals and strategies.
- Example: Autonomous trading bots, robotics with goal-driven behavior.
2. Perception AI
- Scope: Senses and inputs—what the AI perceives.
- Function: Takes raw inputs (images, audio, text, sensor data) and interprets them.
- Analogy: Eyes, ears, and touch for AI.
- Example: Computer vision models, speech recognition, LIDAR for autonomous vehicles.
1. World AI
- Scope: Understanding reality or “the world” at large.
- Function: Acts as a knowledge base or lens to interpret external data—maps, trends, facts, contexts.
- Analogy: The AI equivalent of a global observer or encyclopedia.
- Example: AI analyzing global climate data, or aggregating social sentiment trends.
💡 Pentad Perspective:
If you view them as a flow or stack:
- Embodied AI → integrates action in the physical/simulated world
- Generative AI → creates content or solutions
- Agentic AI → decides how to act
- Perception AI → senses it
- World AI → understands context
This gives a neat fivefold structure for thinking about AI capabilities—from sensing to acting, from creation to embodiment.