Inference Corporation

Inference Corporation[1][2] specializes in "the development of artificial intelligence computer systems."[3]

History

Los Angeles-based Inference was founded in 1979.[3] In the 1990s they built a case-based computer program for Compaq Computer Corporation that would enable dealing with a situation where "a computer printer turns out a blurry and smeared page" without having to call a help desk.[1] Although such software already existed, the breakthrough was that it was small enough to fit "on three floppy disks."

The company's Automated Reasoning Tool (ART), initially implemented on a mainframe, subsequently made available on PCs, has been extended to ART-IM, an Information Management package; the product line originated in 1988.[4][5]

Ford and AOL are among the household-known corporations that use Inference software to enhance customer service.[6][3] Inference was acquired by eGain Corporation in 2000.[7] Prior to that, Inference acquired 1981-founded Computer Mathematics Corporation, marketer of SMP (computer algebra system);[8] Inference made another acquisition the year before they themselves were acquired by eGain.[9]

Automated Reasoning Tool

The Automated Reasoning Tool (ART) is a system designed by Paul Haley,[10] Chuck Williams, Brad Allen, and Mark Wright,[11] to design rule-based knowledge representations with options for frame and procedural methods of knowledge base representation.[12]

ART's syntax influenced NASA's derived CLIPS in the mid-80s.[11] ART is a derivative of OPS5, with extensions, built for the Inference Corporation.[10]


References
  1. Sabra Chartrand (August 4, 1993). "Compaq Printer Can Tell You What's Ailing It". The New York Times. developed for Compaq by the Inference Corporation
  2. John Markoff (May 15, 1988). "Can Machines Learn to Think?; The Artificial Intelligence Industry Is Retrenching". The New York Times.
  3. "Ford Acquires A Stake In Artificial Intelligence". The New York Times. October 25, 1985.
  4. M. Ragheb (1988). "Knowledge-Based Systems and Interactive Graphics".
  5. K. D. Bimson (1988). "Conceptual model-based reasoning". Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
  6. "Technology Briefs". The Wall Street Journal.
  7. "E-Commerce Software Firm eGain To Buy Inference for $73 million". The Wall Street Journal. March 17, 2000.
  8. "Stephen Wolfram: A New Kind of Science".
  9. (Verix) "Inference Corp /ca/ 1999 8-K/A Current report". July 9, 1999.
  10. "Automated Reasoning Tool, Online Historical Encyclopaedia of Programming Languages".
  11. "Haley / ART syntax lives on in open-source Java rules – Commercial Intelligence".
  12. Artificial Intelligence Study (PDF) (Report). February 1987. pp. 2–49. ART evolved from an expert system used to interpret radar signals from space flight operation at NASA.


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