Learning:

⮚ “Learning denotes changes in a system that enables system to do

same task more efficiently next time.”

⮚ Learning is the improvement of performance with experience

overtime.

⮚ Learning element is the portion of a learning AI system that

decides how to modify the performance element and implements those
modifications.

⮚ We all learn new knowledge through different methods, depending

on the type of material to be learned, the amount of relevant knowledg
we already possess, and the environment in which the learning takes
place.

Components of Learning System

Performance Element: The performance element is the agent that
acts in the world .It percepts
and decides on external actions.

Learning Element: It responsible for making improvements,

takes knowledge about
performance element and some feedback ,determines how to modify
performance element.

Critic: It tells the learning element how agent is doing by comparing

with the
fixed standard of performance.
Types of learning:

1. Supervised learning generates a function that maps inputs to desired

outputs (also called labels, because they are often provided by human
experts labeling the training examples). For example, in a classification
problem, the learner approximates a function mapping a vector into
classes by looking at input-output examples of the function.

2. Unsupervised learning models a set of inputs, like clustering. See

also data mining and knowledge discovery.

3. Semi-supervised learning combines both labeled and unlabeled

examples to generate an appropriate function or classifier.

4. Reinforcement learning learns how to act given an observation of

the world. Every action has some impact in the environment, and the
environment provides feedback in the form of rewards that guides the
learning algorithm.

5. Transduction, or transductive inference, tries to predict new outputs

on specific and fixed (test) cases from observed, specific (training) cases.
Learning to learn learns its own inductive bias based on previous
experience.

KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION

⮚ Knowledge acquisition is the gathering or collecting knowledge

from
various sources. It is the process of adding new knowledge to a
knowledge base and refining or improving knowledge that was
previously acquired.

⮚ Acquisition is the process of expanding the capabilities of a system

or
improving its performance at some specified task. So it is the goal
oriented creation and refinement of knowledge.

⮚ Acquired knowledge may consist of facts, rules, concepts,

procedures,
heuristics, formulas, relationships, statistics or any other useful
information.
\
⮚ The knowledge acquisition is a continuous process and is spread
over entire lifetime

⮚ The knowledge should be accurate, non-redundant, consistent and

fairly complete. Knowledge acquisition supports the activities like
entering the knowledge and maintaining knowledge base.
The role of knowledge engineer is also very important with respect to
develop the
refinements of knowledge.

Figure 2: Knowledge Engineer’s Roles in Interactive Knowledge Acquisition

Knowledge Acquisition Techniques are:

a) Diagram Based Techniques

b) Matrix Based Techniques

c) Hierarchy-Generation Techniques

d) Protocol Analysis Techniques

e) Protocol Generation Techniques

f) Sorting Techniques

Expert systems:

Expert system = knowledge + problem-solving methods.

A knowledge base that captures the domain-specific knowledge and an

inference engine that consists of algorithms for
manipulating the
knowledge represented in the knowledge base to solve a problem
presented to the system.

What are Expert Systems?

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 expertise.

Expert systems ES are one of the prominent research domains of AI. It is

introduced by the researchers at Stanford University, Computer Science
Department.

Characteristics of Expert Systems

⚫ High performance

⚫ Understandable

⚫ Reliable

⚫ Highly responsive

Capabilities of Expert Systems

The expert systems are capable of −

⚫ Advising

⚫ Instructing and assisting human in decision making

⚫ Demonstrating

⚫ Deriving a solution

⚫ Diagnosing

⚫ Explaining

⚫ Interpreting input

⚫ Predicting results

⚫ Justifying the conclusion

⚫ Suggesting alternative options to a problem

They are incapable of −

⚫ Substituting human decision makers

⚫ Possessing human capabilities

⚫ Producing accurate output for inadequate knowledge base

⚫ Refining their own knowledge

Components of Expert Systems

The components of ES include −

1. Knowledge Base

2. Inference Engine

3. User Interface

Let us see them one by one briefly −

Figure 3: Components of Expert System

Knowledge Base

It contains domain-specific and high-quality knowledge. Knowledge is

required to exhibit intelligence. The success of any ES majorly depends
upon the collection of highly accurate and precise knowledge.

What is Knowledge?

The data is collection of facts. The information is organized as data and

facts about the task domain. Data, information, and past experience
combined together are termed as knowledge.

Components of Knowledge Base

The knowledge base of an ES is a store of both, factual and heuristic

knowledge.

1. Factual Knowledge − It is the information widely accepted by the

Knowledge Engineers and scholars in the task domain.

2. Heuristic Knowledge − It is about practice, accurate judgement, one’s

ability of evaluation, and guessing.

Knowledge representation

It is the method used to organize and formalize the knowledge in the

knowledge base. It is in the form of IF-THEN-ELSE rules.

Knowledge Acquisition

The success of any expert system majorly depends on the quality,

completeness, and accuracy of the information stored in the knowledge
base. The knowledge base is formed by readings from various experts,
scholars, and the Knowledge Engineers. The knowledge engineer is a
person with the qualities of empathy, quick learning, and case analyzing
skills. He acquires information from subject expert by
recording,
interviewing, and observing him at work, etc. He then categorizes and
organizes the information in a meaningful way, in the
form of
IF-THEN-ELSE rules, to be used by interference machine.
The
knowledge engineer also monitors the development of the ES.

Inference Engine

Use of efficient procedures and rules by the Inference Engine is essential

in deducting a correct, flawless solution. In case of knowledge-based ES,
the Inference Engine acquires and manipulates the knowledge from the
knowledge base to arrive at a particular solution.

In case of rule based ES, it −

1. Applies rules repeatedly to the facts, which are obtained from earlier
rule application.

2. Adds new knowledge into the knowledge base if required.

3. Resolves rules conflict when multiple rules are applicable to a

particular case.

To recommend a solution, the Inference Engine uses the following

strategies −

1. Forward Chaining

2. Backward Chaining
Forward Chaining

It is a strategy of an expert system to answer the question, “What can

happen next?” Here, the Inference Engine follows the chain of
conditions
and derivations and finally deduces the outcome. It considers all the
facts
and rules, and sorts them before concluding to a solution. This strategy
is
followed for working on conclusion, result, or effect. For example,
prediction of share market status as an effect of changes in interest
rates.

Backward Chaining

With this strategy, an expert system finds out the answer to the
question,
“Why this happened?” On the basis of what has already happened, the
Inference Engine tries to find out which conditions could have happened
in the past for this result. This strategy is followed for finding out
cause
or reason. For example, diagnosis of blood cancer in humans.

User Interface

User interface provides interaction between user of the ES and the ES

itself. It is generally Natural Language Processing so as to be used by
the
user who is well-versed in the task domain. The user of the ES need not
be necessarily an expert in Artificial Intelligence.
It explains how the ES has arrived at a particular recommendation. The
explanation may appear in the following forms −

⚫ Natural language displayed on screen.

⚫ Verbal narrations in natural language.

⚫ Listing of rule numbers displayed on the screen

The user interface makes it easy to trace the credibility of the

deductions.
Requirements of Efficient ES User Interface

⚫ It should help users to accomplish their goals in shortest possible

way.

⚫ It should be designed to work for user’s existing or desired work

practices.

⚫ Its technology should be adaptable to user’s requirements; not the

other way round.

⚫ It should make efficient use of user input.

Development of Expert Systems:General Steps

The process of ES development is iterative.

Steps in developing the ES include −

1. Identify Problem Domain

⚫ The problem must be suitable for an expert system to solve it.

⚫ Find the experts in task domain for the ES project.

⚫ Establish cost-effectiveness of the system.

2. Design the System

⚫ Identify the ES Technology

⚫ Know and establish the degree of integration with the other

systems and databases.

⚫ Realize how the concepts can represent the domain knowledge

best.

3. Develop the Prototype From Knowledge Base:

The knowledge engineer works to −

⚫ Acquire domain knowledge from the expert.

⚫ Represent it in the form of If-THEN-ELSE rules.

4. Test and Refine the Prototype

⚫ The knowledge engineer uses sample cases to test the prototype

for any deficiencies in performance.

⚫ End users test the prototypes of the ES.

5. Develop and Complete the ES

⚫ Test and ensure the interaction of the ES with all elements of

its
environment, including end users, databases, and other
information systems.

⚫ Document the ES project well.

⚫ Train the user to use ES.

6. Maintain the ES

⚫ Keep the knowledge base up-to-date by regular review and

update.

⚫ Cater for new interfaces with other information systems, as those

systems evolve.

Benefits of Expert Systems

1. Availability − They are easily available due to mass production of

software.

2. Less Production Cost − Production cost is reasonable. This makes

them affordable.

3. Speed − They offer great speed. They reduce the amount of work an
individual puts in.

4. Less Error Rate − Error rate is low as compared to human errors.

5. Reducing Risk − They can work in the environment dangerous to
humans.

6. Steady response − They work steadily without getting motional,

tensed or fatigued.

Applications of Expert System

Application Description

Design Domain Camera lens design, automobile design.

Medical Domain Diagnosis Systems to deduce cause of

disease from observed data, conduction
medical operations on humans.

Monitoring Systems Comparing data continuously with

observed system or with prescribed
behavior such as leakage monitoring in
long petroleum pipeline.

Process Control Systems Controlling a physical process based on

monitoring.

Knowledge Domain Finding out faults in vehicles, computers.

Finance/Commerce Detection of possible fraud, suspicious

transactions, stock market trading, Airline scheduling, cargo
scheduling.

Expert Systems Limitations

No technology can offer easy and complete solution. Large systems are
costly, require significant development time, and computer resources.
ESs have their limitations which include-

⚫ Limitations of the technology

⚫ Difficult knowledge acquisition

⚫ ES are difficult to maintain

⚫ High development costs