Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science that aims to create machines capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence. These tasks include problem-solving, learning, reasoning, understanding natural language, recognizing patterns, and making decisions. AI can be broadly categorized into two types: narrow AI and general AI.

1. Narrow AI: Also known as weak AI, narrow AI is designed to perform a specific task, such as facial recognition, language translation, or driving a car. Most of the AI applications we interact with today, like virtual assistants (e.g., Siri, Alexa), recommendation systems, and chatbots, fall under this category.

2. General AI: Also known as strong AI or artificial general intelligence (AGI), general AI refers to a machine with the ability to understand, learn, and apply knowledge across a wide range of tasks, much like a human being. AGI remains a theoretical concept and has not yet been achieved.