L9. Expert System 2
L9. Expert System 2
L9. Expert System 2
Inference
Engine
Expert System
Inference Engine
The most crucial component of ES.
It derives the knowledge, i.e., guides the selection
of a proper response to a specific situation which
is called pruning.
Draw conclusions from the knowledge base.
Example of drawing conclusion:
If I tell you: “All boys have a mother”,
and “John is a boy”.
What can you tell me about John?
You are able to figure out that: “John has a mother”,
without being explicitly told this fact.
Inference Engine
Three formal approaches used in this case are:
Production rules – consists of a rule set, a rule
interpreter which specifies when and how to
apply the rules and a working memory which
holds the data, goals and intermediate results.
Structured objects – use vector representation
of essential and accidental properties.
Predicate logic – uses propositional and
predicate calculi.
Inference Engine
The inference engine can work in the following
ways:
Forward chaining.
Backward chaining.
Abduction.
Reasoning under uncertainty.
Inference Engine
Inference
Engine
Expert System
Expert System
Guideline to determine whether a problem is
appropriate for expert system solution:
The need for the solution justifies the cost and effort of
building an expert system.
Human expertise is not available in all situations where it is
needed.
The problem may be solved using symbolic reasoning.
The problem domain is well structured and does not
require common sense reasoning.
The problem may not be solved using traditional computing
methods.
Cooperative and articulate experts exist.
The problem is of proper size and scope.
Expert System
Strength:
Provide consistent answers for repetitive decisions,
processes and tasks.
Hold and maintain significant levels of information.
Reduce employee training costs.
Centralize the decision making process.
Create efficiencies and reduce the time needed to solve
problems.
Combine multiple human expert intelligences.
Reduce the amount of human errors.
Give strategic and comparative advantages creating entry
barriers to competitors.
Review transactions that human experts may overlook.
Expert System
Weaknesses:
Require a lot of detailed knowledge.
Restrict knowledge domain.
Not all domain knowledge fits rule format.
Expert consensus must exist.
Experts cannot always clearly explain their logic and
reasoning.
Knowledge acquisition is time consuming.
Challenges of automating complex processes.
Lack of flexibility and ability to adapt to changing
environments.
Not being able to recognize when no answer is available.
Conclusions
Very interesting field of AI.
Expert systems are extremely useful in the right
domain.
They are inflexible and require a lot of
collaboration between a knowledge engineer and a
domain expert.
When implemented correctly, experts systems
remove human error from the equation.