Artificial Intelligence and expert systems

Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems  | Types of expert systems ....

 

Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems -  Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science,  which  focuses on the development of computer systems to simulate the processes of problem solving and duplicate human brain functions. Expert systems (ES) are a category of programs based on the  theory and methods of  artificial intelligence.

The first expert systems appeared in the late sixties. Today, they exist in many forms, from medical diagnosis to investment  analysis and from counseling to production control. Due to the advances of the last  decade, today's expert systems users can choose from dozens of commercial software packages. At present, we accept as routine such expert systems as weather forecasting, online mapping and driving directions, diagnostic systems for automotive repair shops, and so on.

Many large corporations use expert systems in their business.  The list of the companies  using  expert systems technology is long and varied: NASA, HP,  Lockheed,  Boing, DaimlerChrysler AG, various power, gas and oil stations, etc.

Expert systems tend to be more effective than other computer based applications, because they:

• may combine  the knowledge of many experts in a specific field,

• can store  an unlimited amount of  information, and works  much faster, than a human,

• are  available 24 hours a day, and can be used at a distance over a network,

• are able to explain their information requests and suggestions,

• can process client's uncertain responses and, by combining several pieces of uncertain information, may still be able to make strong recommendations,

• can accumulate the knowledge of high level employees for any company, which is  especially useful  when the company needs to fire  them due to worsened market conditions.

Types of expert systems:  Expert systems fall into a number of major categories (not exclusive) described below. There are many applications not covered , and some manufacturers and vendors  could fit in multiple categories, but due to space limitations, they are only included in one.

Acquisition  and interpretation  of data. These  categories   retrieve, analyze, filter  and restore missed data, as well as mine data, transform data  in another format, and so on.. Examples  of this category include:

• Netrics Data Quality Software by Netrics Inc. enables cleansing of mission-critical data.  Netrics products deliver near-perfect accuracy no matter how "dirty" and error-prone the data is.

• Nuggets by Data Mining Technologies, Inc.,  is an application which builds models to uncover hidden facts and relationships. These models can predict new data, allow  generalizing and revealing  which indicators (i.e. variables) most impact  decisions.

For more information  see  and order the book "Artificial Intelligence Around Us".