- expert system
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Computers.a program that gives answers, solutions, or diagnoses, based on available information, by following procedures that attempt to duplicate the thought processes and apply the knowledge of an expert in some particular field.[1975-80]
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Computer-based system designed to respond like a human expert in a given field.Expert systems are built on knowledge gathered from human experts, analogous to a database but containing rules that may be applied to solving a specific problem. An interface allows the user to specify symptoms and to clarify a problem by responding to questions posed by the system. Software tools exist to help designers build a special-purpose expert system with minimal effort. An outgrowth of work in artificial intelligence, expert systems show promise for an ever-widening range of applications. There are now widely used expert systems in the fields of medicine, personnel screening, and education.* * *
a computer program that uses artificial intelligence to solve problems within a specialized domain that ordinarily requires human expertise. The first expert system was developed in 1965 by Edward Feigenbaum (Feigenbaum, Edward Albert) and Joshua Lederberg (Lederberg, Joshua) of Stanford University in California, U.S. Dendral, as their expert system was later known, was designed to analyze chemical compounds. Expert systems now have commercial applications in fields as diverse as medical diagnosis, petroleum engineering, and financial investing.In order to accomplish feats of apparent intelligence, an expert system relies on two components: a knowledge base and an inference engine. A knowledge base is an organized collection of facts about the system's domain. An inference engine interprets and evaluates the facts in the knowledge base in order to provide an answer. Typical tasks for expert systems involve classification, diagnosis, monitoring, design, scheduling, and planning for specialized endeavours.Facts for a knowledge base must be acquired from human experts through interviews and observations. This knowledge is then usually represented in the form of “if-then” rules (production rules): “If some condition is true, then the following inference can be made (or some action taken).” The knowledge base of a major expert system includes thousands of rules. A probability factor is often attached to the conclusion of each production rule, because the conclusion is not a certainty. For example, a system for the diagnosis of eye diseases might indicate, based on information supplied to it, a 90 percent probability that a person has glaucoma, and it might also list conclusions with lower probabilities. An expert system may display the sequence of rules through which it arrived at its conclusion; tracing this flow helps the user to appraise the credibility of its recommendation and is useful as a learning tool for students.Human experts frequently employ heuristic rules, or “rules of thumb,” in addition to simple production rules. For example, a credit manager might know that an applicant with a poor credit history, but a clean record since acquiring a new job, might actually be a good credit risk. Expert systems have incorporated such heuristic rules and increasingly have the ability to learn from experience. Nevertheless, expert systems remain supplements, rather than replacements, for human experts.Vladimir Zwass* * *
Universalium. 2010.
