Some people believe that the expert system field is dead, yet others believe it is alive and well. To gain a better insight into these possible views, the first three world congresses on expert systems (which typically attract representatives from some 45-50 countries) are used to determine the health of the global expert system field in terms of applied technologies, applications, and management. This article highlights some of these findings. An excellent way to gain a global perspective on expert system technology, applications, and management is to examine the world congresses on expert systems (sponsored by the International Society for Intelligent Systems in Rockville, Maryland). The World Congress on Expert Systems was established to bridge the gap between the academician and the practitioner and concentrate on expert system work being performed throughout the world.

A survey of expert system (ES) business application papers published between 1977 and 1993 indicates that an increasing amount of ES research is being conducted for a diverse range of business activities. The classification of literature by (1) year of publication, (2) application area, (3) generic problem area addressed, (4) problem domain, (5) level of management, (6) level of task interdependence, (7) means of development, (8) corporate/academic interaction in development, and (9) technology integration provides some insights in the trend. Implications to ES developers are discussed.

Some people believe that the expert system field is dead, yet others believe it is alive and well. To gain a better insight into these possible views, the first three world congresses on expert systems (which typically attract representatives from some 45-50 countries) are used to determine the health of the global expert system field in terms of applied technologies, applications, and management. This article highlights some of these findings.

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Second, the problem domain of the used be as good as possible. Two The application task requires little task is stable. This means that the characteristics of the domain expert or no common sense. Although domain should be well established can help determine the degree of researchers are continuing to study and unlikely to undergo vast changes expertise. First, the expert is highly the representation of commonsense during the life of the expert system respected by experienced people in the knowledge, no practical systems have project. This stability does not require domain field. Because the goal of the been developed to date (Lenat, that the problem-solving process project is often to simulate the Prakash, and Shepherd 1986). A problem required to perform the task be well expert's performance, this expert requiring common sense on the understood, simply that the basics of should be viewed by others as a genuine part of the expert should be left to a the task domain be established.