Expert Systems

KR Chowdhary, Associate Professor,

Department of Computer Science & Engineering,
MBM Engineering College, JNV University, Jodhpur,
k.chowdhary@acm.org
Defining Expert Systems

Definitions:
Where human expertise is needed to solve problems,
expert systems are likely candidates to solve those
problems.

What is an expert system (ES)?

A set of programs that manipulate encoded
knowledge to solve problems in a specialized domain
that normally require human expertise.

Encoded knowledge is used in inferencing or
reasoning process.
 Characteristic features of ES:

• Uses knowledge rather than data for control

the solution.
• Knowledge is maintained separate from
control program
• ES are capable of explaining how and why a
particular solution arrived.
• Uses symbolic representation of knowledge
and performs symbolic computation which
closely matches human beings.
• Uses meta-knowledge.
Applications of Expert Systems

Medical Diagnoses

Diagnosis of complex electronic and
electromechanical systems

Diagnosis of software development projects

Weather forecasting

Forecasting crop damages

Identification of chemical compound
structures

Location faults in computer and
communication systems
Applications …

Scheduling of Customer orders, jobs in OS, in
productions.

Evaluation of applications for loan, eligibility
criteria, etc.

VLSI Design

Military applications, like those in battle fields

Law area, like-civil laws, disputes, etc.

Teaching AI techniques
Why to use ES?

Commercial viability: whereas there may be only a few experts
whose time is expensive and rare, you can have many expert
systems

expert systems can be used anywhere, anytime

expert systems can have more knowledge than experts

expert systems can explain their line of reasoning
Weaknesses:

expert systems are as sound as their KB; errors in rules mean
errors in diagnoses

automatic error correction, learning is difficult (although machine
learning research may change this)

little common sense reasoning: “idiot servants”
Rule-based Expert Systems

These are most common type of ES

Uses the knowledge encoded in the form of
production rules (if…then .. rules), i.e.
1. If cond1 and cond2 and cond3
Then take action-1
2. If temperature > 200 deg and water level low
Then open the safety valve

Each rule represents a small chunk of knowledge
relating the given domain

A number of rules may give a chain of inferences
starting from some known facts to useful
conclusions.
 Expert System
User Explanatio
n Module
Inference Case
Input Engine History
File

I/O
Interface
KB Working
Output Memory

Editor Learning
Module
 Expert System..

User interface:
Question answer type
Menu-driven
Natural language
Graphic interface
 Expert System..

KB: Contains facts and rules about some specialized domain.

Building KB using editor.

Inference Process: Inference Engine accepts user input

queries in response to questions through I/O interface.
Inference process is carried out by three stages: match, select,
execute.

What is match?
contents of working memory are compared with KB. When
match is found, the corresponding rules are placed in the
conflict set (i.e. select). Further it needs instantiations to
confirm match. This follows execution.
Inferencing
KB Working
Memory

1. Match
Inference Cycle
Conflict Set

2. Select

3. Execute
 Prolog rules:

Prolog uses backward chaining (goal driven strategy),

matching of sub goals for the goal to be achieved.

Rules may be tested exhaustively or selectively
depending on the control strategy.

The chaining continues as long as matches can be
found between clauses in the working memory and
the rules in the KB.

The search can be limited to few hundred rules.

Uncertainty measures can also be used
 Explanation

Explaining how & why?
How did you know that? (for inference result)
Why do you need to know that? (when additional
information is asked)

I/O Interface: Permits the user to communicate

with the system in a more natural may by permitting
the the use of simple selection menus or use of a
restricted natural language.
Explanation..

When you are asking why a particular action was
performed at a node in the tree...

how questions: recite the children

why questions: recite the parent

thus backward chaining expert systems naturally
support explanation

can be done during inference: when user asked for data,
s/he can as “why” and a reason is given

after expert advice given, user can ask “how”, “why”, and
even “why not” (ie. why did some rule fail)

a great tool for KB debugging!

forward chaining: explanation not as structured;
Knowledge Acquisition and
validation

This is also called knowledge engineering
process

Needs acquiring of knowledge and then
encoding it

Knowledge is derived from experts, journals,
texts, reports, interviews, etc.

Job is performed by knowledge engineer.

Consolidating of the knowledge may need
collective efforts of many persons.
Knowledge acquisition process

Domain System
Expert Editor KB

Knowledge
Engineer
Examples expert systems

1. Medical expert systems
Medical expert systems are an active area.

Humanitarian uses: remote areas can have world-class
expertise,

medical science is complex; expert systems are intelligent
advisors and assistants

MYCIN

diagnose bacterial infections

uses certainty factors: ranked diagnoses are generated

EMYCIN: empty MYCIN - the “shell” of MYCIN for use in other
applications

CADUCEUS:

expert system with entire internal medicine KB

it’s been active since 1970’s
Examples expert systems…
2. XCON

configures VAX systems from user requirements

DEC uses it; has increased throughput of system
design

10,000 rules

said to have replaced X system designers with 4X
expert system maintainers!
3. DELTA/CATS

diesel electric locomotive trouble shooter

problem: system maintenance
Examples expert systems…
4. Jonathan’s Wave

commodities trading

incorporates several expert’s approaches

runs in Prolog and C

lots of AI groups on Wall Street!

5. DENDRAL(1960): For determining the structure of chemical

compounds given its specification.

6. PROSPECTOR: Assists the geologists in discovering the

minerals deposits.
Examples expert systems…
7. Codecheck

expert system to evaluate C source code

complexity, formatting, standards and portability adherence

identifies overly complex code (prime source of program
problems!)
8. CHORAL

expert system for harmonizing chorales in the style of J.S.
Bach

similar system: harmonic analysis of tonal music

rules obtained from: studying composers music,
musicologists

some systems used for composition (with interesting results)
 The state of the art

Expert systems are now ubiquitous (I.e.,present every where)

still lots of active research:

probabilistic knowledge and deduction

large system maintenance

knowledge acquisition

popular domains

industrial, financial, medical

legal: interpret laws “by the book”

education: intelligent tutoring

Some domains remain difficult to implement

those requiring ‘artistic’ creativity and skill

those requiring common sense

Steps in expert system building:
Choosing Problem:

The need for a solution must justify the costs
involved in development

Human expertise is not available in all situations
where it is needed

The problem may be solved using symbolic reasoning
techniques

The problem is well structured and does not require
(much) common sense knowledge

The problem cannot be easily solved using more
traditional computing methods

Cooperative and articulate experts exist

The problem is of proper size and scope
Steps in expert system building

expert system building is a software engineering
task, but with a twist: knowledge base

KB will be continually refined, corrected, updated

expert system design & implementation steps
1. initial proposal - identification of problem, expert(s), benefits
2. create a prototype
3. knowledge engineering: interview expert for many weeks
(months)
4. implement expert’s expertise in KB
5. test expert system; go to 3 (let expert see results)
6. put in production ; refine errors when found
Knowledge engineering

Knowledge engineering: the extraction of knowledge from an
expert, and encoding it into machine-inferrable form

K.E. is the most difficult part of expert system implementation

the knowledge engineer must extract detailed info from an
expert; but s/he is not expected to understand it

the expert relies on years of experience and intuition: asking
them to deconstruct knowledge is difficult and frustrating

can also be political factors

many strategies for knowledge engineering

multiple KE’s

multiple experts

watch expert in the field

continual expert feedback on expert system performance

Other types of expert system

Called Non-production systems

These are:
Semantic Network based
Frame based
Decision tree based
Neural net based
Problems of using expert
systems

Choice of domain

Acceptability

Uncertainty

Updating

Limitation (ES do not know itself)

Testing

Behavior

Knowledge acquisition
Advantages of using expert
Systems

Availability

Consistency

Comprehensiveness (detailed
knowledge)