Knowledge-based

Systems
Dr Afaf Mousa
Course Objectives

 To know and comprehend the main principles, components, and application

areas for expert systems
 To understand the structure of expert systems
 knowledge base, inference engine
 To be familiar with frequently used methods for knowledge representation in
computers
 To evaluate the suitability of computers for specific tasks
 application of methods to scenarios or tasks
Project Groups
Artificial Intelligence
What is AI?

 Artificial intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science

that is studying how to let computers perform functions
considered to be high level human activities
knowledge based system vs an expert
system

?
What is an expert system?

 An expert system is an intelligent computer program that uses

knowledge(experience) and inference procedures to solve
problems that are difficult enough to require human expertise for
their solutions.

 An expert system is a computer program designed to

simulate the problem-solving behavior of an expert in a
narrow domain or discipline.
What is KBS?

A knowledge-based system (kbs) is a computer

program that uses knowledge and problem solving
techniques
knowledge based system vs an expert system

 What’s the difference between a knowledge-based

system and an expert system?
 An expert system is scientific and focused on solving a range
of related problems (ex, medicine),
 whereas a knowledge-based system relies more upon the
programmer or data scientist to make effective use of a large
set of data.
Human expert

Is a person who has expertise in certain area.

Human expert Characteristics:

- knowledge or special skills(experience)
- Solve problems that most people can’t solve
- Solve problem more efficiently than others.
Why Expert system
Characteristics of an expert system

 Expertise:
 Exhibit expert performance
 Have high level of skill
 Symbolic reasoning
 Represent knowledge symbolically
 Depth
 Handle difficult problem domains
 Use complex rules
 Self-knowledge
 Examine its own reasoning
 Explain its operation
Expert System Advantages

 economical
 lower cost per user
 availability
 accessible anytime, almost anywhere
 response time
 often faster than human experts
 reliability
 can be greater than that of human experts
 no distraction, fatigue, emotional involvement, …
 explanation
 reasoning steps that lead to a particular conclusion
Expert system Problems
 limited knowledge
 “shallow” knowledge
 no “deep” understanding of the concepts and their relationships
 no “common-sense” knowledge
 no knowledge from possibly relevant related domains
 “closed world”
 the ES knows only what it has been explicitly “told”
 it doesn’t know what it doesn’t know
 mechanical reasoning
 may not have or select the most appropriate method for a particular
problem
 some “easy” problems are computationally very expensive
 lack of trust
 users may not want to leave critical decisions to machines
Expert System Main Components

Expert Systems:
Human Expertise

 Knowledge base –

Knowledge base systems:

Data

 Inference engine – draws conclusions from the knowledge base

Basic Functions of Expert Systems

User
Expertise
Knowledge Base

User Interface
Facts / Information

Inference Engine
Expertise
Developer
HOW TO BUILD AN EXPERT SYSTEM
?
1. The knowledge engineer establishes
a dialog with the human expert.
2. The knowledge engineer codes the
knowledge explicitly in the
knowledge base.
3. The expert evaluates the expert
system and gives a critique to the
knowledge engineer
Representing knowledge

 Rule-based methods (Production rules)

 Frame-based methods
 Semantic network
 Logic
Rule-based methods

 A rule is a formal way of specifying a recommendation or

advice
 A rule is expressed as
 IF THEN
Example Rules

21
Structure of a Rule-Based Expert System

Knowledge Base
Knowledge
Acquisition
Facility
User Interface

Inference Engine Agenda

Explanation
Facility
Working Memory
Drawing inferences from rules

 Forward chaining
 Backward chaining
Forward chaining
Forward chaining
(data-driven)– reasoning from facts to the conclusions,

1) the user provides the system with information (facts)

2) it seats the information (facts) in the working memory,
3) the inference engine scans the rules in some predefined sequence looking for one whose
pattern match the contents in the working memory. If it finds a rule, it adds the satisfied
rule to agenda to be fired, adds rule’s conclusion to the working memory,
4) the system checks the rule again looking for new matches,
5) on the new cycle, rules that were previously fired are ignored,
6) this procedure continues until no match is found
⮚ working memory contains information provided by the user and inferred by the
system.
General Methods of Inferencing
 Consider the following knowledge base:
Rule1
If A and C then F
Rule 2
If A and E then G
Rule 3
KB:
A and C then F
If B then E A and E then G
Rule 4 B then E
If G then D G then D
Problem: prove that if A&B is true then D is true

26
General Methods of Inferencing
 Consider the following knowledge base:
Rule1
If A and C then F
Rule 2 WM:A,B, E, G, D
If A and E then G
Rule 3
KB:
A and C then F Agenda
If B then E A and E then G B then E
Rule 4 B then E A and E then G
G then D G then D
If G then D
Problem: prove that if A&B is true then D is true

27
EXPERT SYSTEM vs
CONVENTIONAL SYSTEM
?