ISO 22989 Revision Checker
ISO/IEC 22989:2022/FDAmd 1 Amendment 1: Generative AI Stage 50.00 Planning date 16 Feb 2027, an estimate 117 defined terms · 23 clause pages

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Terms related to AI · 3.1.24

narrow AI

an AI system type aimed at defined tasks and one specific problem

  • definition
  • Defined term
  • ISO/IEC 22989:2022/FDAmd 1
  • Last updated: 2026-10-21

What this term settles

The definition fixes what narrow AI means inside this vocabulary and, just as usefully, where the boundary sits. A reader who means something wider or narrower is using a different term and should say so.

Who it binds

A definition binds nobody on its own, so the force of narrow AI comes only from the reader who adopts it in a policy, a contract, a data schema or an assurance argument.

What to do in your practice

Add narrow AI to the vocabulary register and to the onboarding pack. A term that is only in a PDF is not controlled; it is controlled when a new joiner can find it and a reviewer can test it.

Evidence an auditor or regulator asks for

  • A controlled vocabulary entry for narrow AI with the citation 3.1.24, an owner and a review date.
    An auditor can check that narrow AI is controlled rather than assumed.
  • An AI system inventory field that records the entry for each system, with its owner. The row names narrow AI.
    Shows narrow AI in use in the artefact the firm relies on, not only in a glossary.
  • A policy or procedure sentence that uses the entry in this sense. The record carries the narrow AI entry and its date.
    The policy borrows the word but not the boundary, so a supplier system and an in-house model are treated as the same kind of thing. The gap is tested against narrow AI.
Ask your teamWhich artefact would a reviewer open to see narrow AI used in this sense?

Common gaps this page catches

  • narrow AI is used in the AI vocabulary a policy reaches for first without a written definition, so two teams can mean different things.
  • A local synonym has grown up beside narrow AI and the two are now used interchangeably.

What to prepare before the amendment lands

Put narrow AI on the agenda of the next AI governance meeting with two questions: where is it used, and what would show it is used correctly? Record the answers as actions.

How to test it here

Take one live artefact rather than a template, find the sentence or field where narrow AI is used, and put this page beside it. Record the answer, the artefact and the date, because that record is the evidence and a glossary entry on its own is only an intention.

What this page does not claim

The page does not reproduce the standard, certify the firm or predict the wording the amendment will use; it states narrow AI at the claim level "definition" and stops where the public record stops.

Common questions

What does narrow AI mean in ISO 22989?
an AI system type aimed at defined tasks and one specific problem
What evidence should we keep for 3.1.24?
A controlled vocabulary entry for narrow AI with the citation 3.1.24, an owner and a review date. An AI system inventory field that records the entry for each system, with its owner. The row names narrow AI.
Is narrow AI a requirement?
No: narrow AI is a definition or clause of a terminology standard, and it becomes binding only when a firm writes it into a policy, a contract or a procedure, or when another standard incorporates it.

Related units

Source. ISO/IEC 22989:2022, Clause 3.1.24, Terms and definitions. Open the ISO public entry. Retrieved 21 October 2026.

https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/en/#iso:std:iso-iec:22989:ed-1:v1:en

ISO catalogue record 88145, the amendment status, stage and dates. Catalogue record 74296, the base standard.

Claim level: definition. The definition is in the public preview. This page states it in our own words and does not reproduce the text.

Built from the public ISO record and the public clause 3 entries. No clause text is reproduced. How the record is built.

Last updated: 2026-10-21 · Markdown version · Check your vocabulary