Software:Inference Corporation

From HandWiki
Short description: Artificial intelligence software company

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. 1.0 1.1 Sabra Chartrand (August 4, 1993). "Compaq Printer Can Tell You What's Ailing It". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/04/business/business-technology-compaq-printer-can-tell-you-what-s-ailing-it.html. "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. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/15/weekinreview/ideas-trends-can-machines-learn-think-artificial-intelligence-industry.html. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Ford Acquires A Stake In Artificial Intelligence". The New York Times. October 25, 1985. https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/25/business/ford-acquires-a-stake-in-artificial-intelligence.html. 
  4. M. Ragheb (1988). Knowledge-Based Systems and Interactive Graphics. doi:10.1007/978-1-4613-1009-9_53. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4613-1009-9_53. 
  5. K. D. Bimson (1988). Conceptual model-based reasoning. doi:10.1109/HICSS.1988.11915. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11915. 
  6. "Technology Briefs". The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB940992900487504276. 
  7. "E-Commerce Software Firm eGain To Buy Inference for $73 million". The Wall Street Journal. March 17, 2000. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB953213045882925378. 
  8. "Stephen Wolfram: A New Kind of Science". https://www.wolframscience.com/media/timeline.html. 
  9. (Verix) "Inference Corp /ca/ 1999 8-K/A Current report". July 9, 1999. https://sec.report/Document/0000929624-99-001244/. 
  10. 10.0 10.1 "Automated Reasoning Tool, Online Historical Encyclopaedia of Programming Languages". https://hopl.info/showlanguage2.prx?exp=1031. 
  11. 11.0 11.1 "Haley / ART syntax lives on in open-source Java rules – Commercial Intelligence". http://haleyai.com/wordpress/2008/02/20/haley-art-syntax-lives-on-in-open-source-java-rules. 
  12. Artificial Intelligence Study (Report). February 1987. pp. 2–49. https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a181029.pdf. "ART evolved from an expert system used to interpret radar signals from space flight operation at NASA."