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spatial intelligence
also spatial AI or machine spatial intelligence
Definition of spatial intelligence
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: an AI system's ability to perceive, represent, reason about, and act within three-dimensional environments, including understanding objects, locations, viewpoints, motion, and how a scene may change after an action
- Spatial intelligence allowed the robot to infer that the mug was behind the box even after the camera moved.
- The world model was evaluated on spatial intelligence tasks involving 3D reconstruction, navigation, and predicting the consequences of actions.
Two meanings, one word
In everyday English
The human ability to understand shapes, positions, directions, distances, and relationships in space.
In AI
An AI system's ability to perceive, represent, reason about, and act within three-dimensional environments, including understanding objects, locations, viewpoints…
Origin & history
Spatial intelligence was first established in psychology and cognitive science as a human capacity for understanding spatial relationships. In AI, the expression gained renewed prominence in 2024 when Fei-Fei Li used it for systems that can perceive, predict, and act in the three-dimensional world, and World Labs made it the focus of its world-model research.
Test yourself
Which of these is the meaning of spatial intelligence?
Cite this entry
"Spatial intelligence." AI Dictionary, Dadgogo, https://dadgogo.com/dictionary/spatial-intelligence/. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.