Open Access
February, 1987 Probability Judgment in Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems
Glenn Shafer
Statist. Sci. 2(1): 3-16 (February, 1987). DOI: 10.1214/ss/1177013426

Abstract

Historically, the study of artificial intelligence has emphasized symbolic rather than numerical computation. In recent years, however, the practical needs of expert systems have led to an interest in the use of numbers to encode partial confidence. There has been some effort to square the use of these numbers with Bayesian probability ideas, but in most applications not all the inputs required by Bayesian probability analyses are available. This difficulty has led to widespread interest in belief functions, which use probability in a looser way. It must be recognized, however, that even belief functions require more structure than is provided by pure production systems. The need for such structure is inherent in the nature of probability argument and cannot be evaded. Probability argument requires design as well as numerical inputs. The real challenge probability poses to artificial intelligence is to build systems that can design probability arguments. The real challenge artificial intelligence poses to statistics is to explain how statisticians design probability arguments.

Citation

Download Citation

Glenn Shafer. "Probability Judgment in Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems." Statist. Sci. 2 (1) 3 - 16, February, 1987. https://doi.org/10.1214/ss/1177013426

Information

Published: February, 1987
First available in Project Euclid: 19 April 2007

zbMATH: 0955.68506
MathSciNet: MR896256
Digital Object Identifier: 10.1214/ss/1177013426

Keywords: Artificial intelligence , associative memory , Bayesian networks , Belief functions , certainty factors , Conditional independence , constructive probability , diagnostic trees , expert systems , production systems

Rights: Copyright © 1987 Institute of Mathematical Statistics

Vol.2 • No. 1 • February, 1987
Back to Top