Knowledge Base Systems (KBS)

KBS is often used as a synonym for expert systems. It is a more general kind of system which uses
symbolic representation of knowledge and rules-of-thumb to exhibit a form of intelligent behavior, but it is
not required for it to contain any real expertise.

Expert System (ES)

An expert system is a knowledge based system that contains a body of knowledge that is normally
attributed to a real human expert whose expertise is in a specific field of problem domain.
The system uses this knowledge from the human expert in the same way and for the same purpose as
its human counterpart does. Thus the system is meant to emulate the behavior of human experts who are
meant to solve problems or simply to provide advice.

Artificial Intelligence

Knowledge
Unique Characteristics of Base Systems
Expert Systems over Traditional/Classical
Software
Expert Systems
1. Simulate Human Reasoning
□ Expert systems simulate the human reasoning process about a problem domain instead of modeling
the problem domain itself.
□ Classical systemsFuse mathematical
IGURE models to describe
1. The Relationship the problem
Between thewhile expert
Fields of systems use models
to simulate the reasoning of the expert
Study in AI, KBS and ES
□ The system tries to perform all the expert’s relevant tasks as well as the expert or even better

2. Reason with Representation of Human Knowledge

□ In addition to doing numerical calculations and retrieve data, an expert system manipulates
knowledge
□ The knowledge is normally expressed in a special purpose language and kept separate from the code
that performs the reasoning – these distinct parts are called the knowledge base and the inference
engine

3. Use Heuristic or Approximate Methods

□ Classical applications use algorithmic approaches that guarantee a single correct solution
□ A heuristic is essentially a rule-of-thumb which contains a piece of knowledge about how to solve a
problem – such methods are approximate in the sense that they do not require perfect data and the
solutions derived by the system may contain a degree of uncertainty or a margin of error

4. Deal with Realistic Problems

□ An expert system deals with matters of realistic complexity that require a considerable amount of
human expertise.
□ Unlike many other AI applications who only solve “toy”-problems, expert systems solve problems of
scientific and commercial interest

5. High Performance is Required

□ An expert system must exhibit high performance in terms of speed and reliability in order to be useful
 □ An expert system must propose solutions in a reasonable time and to be right at least as often as the
human expert
□ Their heuristic approach allows them to gain considerable time over classical programs that require
exact solutions

6. Be Able to Explain and Justify its Reasoning

□ An expert system must be able to explain and justify solutions or recommendations to convince the
user that its reasoning is in fact correct
□ An expert system will be run by a wider range of users than a classical system.
□ It should therefore be designed in such a way that its workings are more transparent

Advantages of Computer-Based Expert Systems over Human

Experts
1. Permanence
□ The knowledge in an expert system is made permanent as compared to a human expert who can leave
the company, die, be on a holiday or suffer memory-loss
□ Once the knowledge has been built into the [expert] system, it can no longer disappear

2. Availability
□ The knowledge is available at any time – 24 hours a day/7 times a week

3. Consistency
□ Given the same situation, an expert system always makes the same, consistent decisions.
□ There are no subjective decisions and favoritism

4. Reproducible
□ The situation and decisions used and made by the system can be reproduced at every time it is
subjected to the same working condition.

5. Education of the Human Expert

□ Expert systems allow human experts to re-evaluate their own knowledge by comparing their
decisions and reasoning with that of the computer – the expert system can reveal inconsistencies in
the human expert’s knowledge

6. Short Learning Periods

□ Human experts need long learning periods with constant rehearsals in assessing their chain reasoning
to come up with a consistent decisions – experts systems do not have these pitfalls

7. Easy to Transfer
□ The expert system is relatively inexpensive to maintain and can be used in several locations at the
same time
Advantage of Human Experts over Computer-Based Expert Systems
1. Evolution
□ Human knowledge constantly evolves whereas computer knowledge is fairly static.
□ Humans are very adaptable to new situations but computers show no flexibility unless they have been
programmed to.
2. Creativity and Common Sense
□ Humans are creative when using expertise and they constantly use their common sense
□ It is strange that computers seem well suited for highly complex tasks but are not able to cope with
ordinary common sense.
3. Simultaneous Reasoning
□ Humans can tackle multiple problems at the same time and discover relations between different parts
of knowledge
□ Expert systems are usually geared to specific problem domains and they cannot relate to other
program domains unless they have been explicitly taught to.

Applications Areas of Expert Systems

1. Control
□ This application is used to provide intelligent automation.
□ It uses the computer to govern operation of a single component, several components or the entire
system.
□ Many applications in this area involve the use of feedback data gathered by sensors to monitor
various data such as temperature, water level, speed or any other factor that might affect system
performance where decisions must be made by the system based on the information obtained.

2. Debugging
□ This application is used detect problems in a system and provide possible solutions to these problems.
□ An expert system might be used to locate the source(s) of the problem that’s causing the system to
operate undesirably and then determine a solution to correct them.

3. Design
□ This application is used to develop products to specification.
□ The expert system is used to collect information about constraints (i.e. specifications) relative to a
particular product which can then be used as the design tool or to assist another design tool.
□ These systems can be used to supplement CAD/CAM (computer-aided design/computer-aided
manufacturing) systems in appliance and automobile manufacturing.

4. Diagnosis
□ This application is used to estimates defects.
□ The expert system is used to locate the source(s) of the system difficulty.
□ This is a watered-down version of DEBUGGING in a way that it only detects the source of the problem
but does not recommend any solutions.

5. Instruction
□ This application is used to optimize computer instruction.
 □ An example of this application is found in expert systems used for CAI (computer-aided instruction)
application with the added ability to provide instructional strategy flexibility depending of
background knowledge of the learner.

6. Interpretation
□ This application is used to clarify situations.
□ These are ES applications that collect various forms of input data and then inferring a meaning or
situation from that data. It is designed to help the user understand or clarify what has been recorded.

7. Planning
□ This application is used to develop goal-oriented schemes.
□ This is an ES that plans a method or strategy for achieving a desired goal.
□ This type of application is necessary in the solution of complex problems such as planning military
tactics, project management, scheduling and problem-solving strategies.

8. Prediction
□ This application is used to guess outcomes intelligently.
□ Involves the use of input to infer possibly several outputs and then choosing that one that is most
likely to occur.
□ Predictive applications include those that are used in weather forecasting systems.

9. Repair
□ This application is used to automate the manual process of diagnosis, debugging, planning and fixing.
□ This expert system takes the prescribed solution generated by a debugging expert system and
attempts to implement it.
□ Examples of applications involve fault-tolerant systems, which if reality may or may not be able to
repair the difficulty; if not, system is kept operational until repairs can be made by external sources.

In Conclusion
1. Expert systems are not more intelligent than humans
2. Expert systems have trouble learning from experience
3. Expert systems cannot replace people
4. Expert systems can make mistakes
5. Expert systems will not put the expert out of a job [considering the weaknesses of those
systems]
6. Human experts can profit from the advantages of expert systems to assist those fields
where they are weaker