Founded early in 1983, the center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI) at Stanford University grew out of a long-standing collaboration between scientists at research laboratories in the Palo Alto area and the faculty and students of several Stanford University departments and out of a need for an institutional focus for this work on natural and computer languages. At present, CSLI has 17 senior members and about as many associate members, from SRI International, Xerox PARC, Fairchild, and the Department of Computer Science, Linguistics, and Philosophy at Stanford. Since the Center's research will overlap with the work of other researchers around the world, an important goal of CSLI is to initiate a major outreach, whereby members of CSLI both inform themselves of work done elsewhere and share their own results with others.

During the past year, a prototype expert system for tactical data fusion has been under development,. This computer program combines various messages concerning electronic intelligence (ELINT) to aid in decision making concerning enemy actions and intentions. The prototype system is written in Prolog, a language that has proved to be very powerful and easy to use for problem /rule development. The resulting prototype system (called EXPRS-Expert Prolog System) uses English-like rule constructs of Prolog code. This approach enables the system to generate answers automatically to "why" a ruled fired, and "how" that rule fired. In addition, a rule clause construct is provided which allows direct access to Prolog code routines. This paper describes the structure of the rules used and provides typical user interactions.

Artificial intelligence (AI) will have profound societal effects. It promises potential benefits (and may also pose risks) in education, defense, business, law and science. In this article we explore how AI is likely to affect employment and the distribution of income. We argue that AI will indeed reduce drastically the need of human toil. We also note that some people fear the automation of work by machines and the resulting of unemployment. Yet, since the majority of us probably would rather use our time for activities other than our present jobs, we ought thus to greet the work-eliminating consequences of AI enthusiastically. The paper discusses two reasons, one economic and one psychological, for this paradoxical apprehension. We conclude with discussion of problems of moving toward the kind of economy that will be enabled by developments in AI.

The Steamer project is a research effort concerned with exploring the use of AI software and hardware technologies in the implementation of intelligent computer-based training systems. While the project addressed a host of research issues ranging from how people understand complex dynamic systems to the use of intelligent graphical interfaces, it is focused around the construction of a system to assist in propulsion engineering instruction. The purpose of this article is to discuss the underlying ideas which motivated us to initiate the Steamer effort, describe the current status of the project, provide a glimpse of our planned directions for the future, and discuss the implications of Steamer for AI applications in other instructional domains.

AI technology transfer Is the diffusion of AI research techniques into commercial products. I have been involved in this process since 1975, when the Artificial Intelligence Corporation began to develop ROBOT, the prototype of INTELLECT, a commercially viable natural language interface to data base systems which has been on the market since 1981. In this article, I will discuss AI technology transfer with particular reference to my experiences with the commercialization of INTELLECT. I will begin with the historical perspective of where the field of AI came from, where it is now, and where it is going. Next, I will describe my interpretation of the present market structure for AI products and some specific marketing perspectives. I will then briefly describe the product INTELLECT and its capabilities as an example of a state-of-the-art commercial system. Next, I will describe some of the experiences, which I think are typical, that my company has encountered in commercialize their systems.

Abstract, Editors' Note: In this provocative article Doyle suggests that many of the benefits of current expert systems technology Knowledge engineers qualified to build expert systems are currently in could be achieved without computer-based implementations. Is there not an intermediary position? This revolution is very Namely, that the problems encountered by today's expert important. The views and conclusions contained manpower. The novice still botches the task, but explains in detail of knowledge engineers in the current fashion.

Many techniques for representing knowledge have been proposed, but there have been few reports that compare their application. This article presents an experimental comparison of four knowledge representation schemes: a simple production system, a structured production system. A frame system, and a logic system. We built four pilot expert systems to solve the same problem: risk management of a large construction project. Observations are made about hoe the structure of the domain knowledge affects the implementation of expert systems and their run time efficiency.

Over the past few years, the character of the AI community has changed. AI researchers used to be able to go about their work in peace, while the rest of the world ignored them. As the promise of partical applications of AI has slowly become reality, new players have entered the field, changing its nature forever. The quiet, intellectual community of AI researchers has been augmented by a hoard of other interested parties, including the press, the financial community, and the technology entrepreneurs. Since we cannot go back and hide in the ivory tower, we may as well take the time to explore our new environment. I invite you to join me in a guided tour of the new AI community. Let's begin by analyzing the basic motivation for commercial interest in AI.

Ellen L. Walker Linda T. Powell counter.

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