By Bruce G. Buchanan

The nature of the business doesn't matter; in every business computers have made numerous changes in record keeping, process control, and decision-making. And there will be more. One of the most important trends in computing is making computers behave intelligently. The software underneath this intelligent behavior is called an expert system, sometimes also called a knowledgebased system, or knowledge system. An expert system is a computer program that reasons about a problem in much the same way, and with about the same performance, as specialists. This chapter is about the trend toward using expert systems: what it means, how it's possible, and how to think about it. There have been lead articles about this in Fortune, Business Week, and Newsweek; most Fortune-SOO companies are using expert systems; many are establishing research and development groups for them; even staid IBM is marketing expert systems tools and using them internally. Bruce G. Buchanan I 129 There are many reasons why companies want to build an expert system. Most of them are based on the premise that: Expertise is a scarce resource. And the corollary (by Murphy's Law): Even when there is enough expertise, it is never close enough to the person who needs it in a hurry. Because this is true, almost by definition, an expert system containing some of the knowledge of a company's specialists may have several benefits.. There are several examples of expert systems working in various problem areas. At present, they are used more as "intelligent assistants" than as replacements for technicians or experts. That is, they help people think through difficult problems and may provide suggestions about what to do, without taking over every aspect of the task. Although the problems are quite different they can be categorized into two major classes problems of interpretation and problems of construction. Interpretive problem examples include Schlumberger's Dipmeter Advisor, which replicates the expertise of some of their company-wide specialists who interpret data from clients' oil wells and then sell the expert system's interpretations around the world.