Expert Systems

Benefits of Expert Systems

• Expert systems allow expert knowledge to be extracted when there is no ready access to a human expert, and at any time night and day.
• They preserve expert knowledge when a human expert dies.
• Can combine expertise of many human experts.
• Can increase productivity through quick diagnoses.

Limitations/Disadvantages of Expert Systems

• Can only provide knowledge on one restricted domain.
• Can only provide advice on knowledge entered into the system, which may be limited.
• Do not routinely update knowledge, as a human expert does.
• Lack of common sense.
• Have very high development costs (retaining services of an expert, purchasing powerful hardware, continual programming to keep system up-to-date, training and maintenace costs).

Situations to Encourage Expert System Development

• Nature of domain is such that facts and rules can be coded easily, perhaps due to a lack of uncertainty in the domain area.
• Ready access to experts to provide domain knowledge.
• Domain is sufficiently restricted, allowing all domain knowledge to be coded effectively.
• System would reach out to a great deal of users who would otherwise have no access to domain knowledge.

 

Component Part Questions