3.

2 Expert Systems
Introduction

• An Expert system is a domain in which Artificial Intelligence1 stimulates the behavior and
judgment of a human or an organization containing experts.

• It acquires relevant knowledge from its knowledge base and interprets it as per the user’s
problem.

• The data in the knowledge base is essentially added by humans who are experts in a particular
domain.

• However, the software is used by non-experts to gain information.

• It is used in various medical diagnoses, accounting, coding, gaming, and more areas.

• Breaking down an expert system essentially is an AI software that uses knowledge stored in a
knowledge base to solve problems.

• This usually requires a human expert; thus, it aims at preserving human expert knowledge in its
knowledge base.

• The Expert systems are the computer applications developed to solve complex problems in a
particular domain at the level of extra-ordinary human intelligence and expertize.

• An expert system is used in many areas of AI, such as the healthcare industry for medical
diagnosis, programming, games, and much more.

Characteristics of Expert system:

• They have high-performance levels

• They are easy to understand

• They are completely reliable

• They are highly responsive

Capabilities of Expert Systems

• The expert systems are capable of a number of actions, including:

• Advising: It is capable of advising the human being for the query of any domain from the
particular ES.

• Provide decision-making capabilities: It provides the capability of decision making in any domain,
such as for making any financial decision, decisions in medical science, etc.

1https://www.mygreatlearning.com/blog/what-is-artificial-intelligence/
 • Demonstrate a device: It is capable of demonstrating any new products such as its features,
specifications, how to use that product, etc.

• Problem-solving: It has problem-solving capabilities.

• Explaining a problem: It is also capable of providing a detailed description of an input problem.

• Interpreting the input: It is capable of interpreting the input given by the user.

• Predicting results: It can be used for the prediction of a result.

• Diagnosis: An ES designed for the medical field is capable of diagnosing a disease without using
multiple components as it already contains various inbuilt medical tools.

Process of building an expert system

• Determining the characteristics of the problem

• Knowledge engineer and domain expert work in coherence(reasoning) to define the problem.

• The knowledge engineer translates the knowledge into computer understandable language. He
defines an inference engine a reasoning structure which can use knowledge when needed.

• A Knowledge expert also determines how to integrate the use of uncertain knowledge in the
reasoning process and what type of explanation would be useful.

Components of Expert System

• An expert system mainly consists of three components:

• 1. User Interface

• 2. Inference Engine

• 3. Knowledge Base

1. User Interface

• With the help of a user interface, the expert system interacts with the user, takes queries as an
input in a readable format, and passes it to the inference engine.
 • After getting the response from the inference engine, it displays the output to the user.

• In other words, it is an interface that helps a non-expert user to communicate with the expert
system to find a solution.

2. Inference Engine(Rules of Engine)

• The inference engine is known as the brain of the expert system as it is the main processing unit
of the system.

• It applies inference rules to the knowledge base to derive a conclusion or deduce new
information.

• It helps in deriving an error-free solution of queries asked by the user.

• With the help of an inference engine, the system extracts the knowledge from the knowledge
base.

3. Knowledge Base

• The knowledgebase is a type of storage that stores knowledge acquired from the different
experts of the particular domain.

• It is considered as big storage of knowledge. The more the knowledge base, the more precise
will be the Expert System.

• It is similar to a database that contains information and rules of a particular domain or subject.

• One can also view the knowledge base as collections of objects and their attributes. Such as a
Lion is an object and its attributes are it is a mammal, it is not a domestic animal, etc.

Architecture of Expert Systems

• There are 5 Components of expert systems:

1. Knowledge Base

2. Inference Engine

3. Knowledge acquisition and learning module

4. User Interface

5. Explanation module
 • Knowledge base: The knowledge base in an expert system represents facts and rules. It contains
knowledge in specific domains along with rules in order to solve problems and form procedures
that are relevant to the domain.

• Inference engine: The most basic function of the inference engine is to acquire relevant data
from the knowledge base, interpret it, and find a solution to the user’s problem. Inference
engines also have explanatory and debugging abilities.

• Knowledge acquisition and learning module: This component functions to allow the expert
systems to acquire more data from various sources and store it in the knowledge base.

• User interface: This component is essential for a non-expert user to interact with the expert
system and find solutions.

• Explanation module: As the name suggests, this module helps in providing the user with an
explanation of the achieved conclusion.

Expert Systems Examples

• There are numerous examples of expert systems. Some of them are:

• MYCIN: This was one of the earliest expert systems that were based on backward chaining. It
has the ability to identify various bacteria that cause severe infections. It is also capable of
recommending drugs based on a person’s weight.

• DENDRAL: This was an AI-based expert system used essentially for chemical analysis. It uses a
substance’s spectrographic data in order to predict its molecular structure.

• R1/XCON: This ES had the ability to select specific software to generate a computer system as
per user preference.

• PXDES: This system could easily determine the type and the degree of lung cancer in patients
based on limited data.

• CaDet: This clinical support system identifies cancer in its early stages.

• DXplain: This is also a clinical support system that is capable of suggesting a variety of diseases
based on just the findings of the doctor.