Expert Systems

Artificial intelligence is applied to a real-world problem by incorporating it into a piece of software or a hardware/software combination, and the resulting system is what we call an expert system. Expert systems are a class of computer program that can advise, analyse, categorise, communicate, consult, design, diagnose, explain, forecast, form concepts, identify, interpret, justify, learn, manage, monitor, plan, present, retrieve, schedule, test or tutor, all with very high degree of accuracy and speed. They are normally meant for problems where a human specialist would be sought. Since expert systems are based on English they are easier to program and maintain. Since these are extremely expensive to develop, more exciting expert systems are seen addressing problems in fields only where there is a high potential economical payoff. The prime 3 areas are manufacturing, medicine and financial management. However it should be noted that an expert system is an expert only in its particular field. But if an expert system does make an error it would be a very expensive one for whoever is using it. Another problem is that they are extremely demanding on your computer resources. Eliza, XCON, CADUCEOUS and TAXMAN are some examples of expert systems