This paper presents two studies that use a machine learning expert system (MLES). One focuses on a system to advise to United States federal judges for regarding consistent federal criminal sentencing, based on both the federal sentencing guidelines and offender characteristics. The other study aims to develop a system that could prospectively assist the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office automate their patentability assessment process. Both studies use a machine learning-trained rule-fact expert system network to accept input variables for training and presentation and output a scaled variable that represents the system recommendation (e.g., the sentence length or the patentability assessment). This paper presents and compares the rule-fact networks that have been developed for these projects. It explains the decision-making process underlying the structures used for both networks and the pre-processing of data that was needed and performed. It also, through comparing the two systems, discusses how different methods can be used with the MLES system.

Expert systems have been used to enable computers to make recommendations and decisions. This paper presents the use of a machine learning trained expert system (MLES) for phishing site detection and fake news detection. Both topics share a similar goal: to design a rule-fact network that allows a computer to make explainable decisions like domain experts in each respective area. The phishing website detection study uses a MLES to detect potential phishing websites by analyzing site properties (like URL length and expiration time). The fake news detection study uses a MLES rule-fact network to gauge news story truthfulness based on factors such as emotion, the speaker's political affiliation status, and job. The two studies use different MLES network implementations, which are presented and compared herein. The fake news study utilized a more linear design while the phishing project utilized a more complex connection structure. Both networks' inputs are based on commonly available data sets.