This lecture will be given by Michael Witbrock, chief director of Cycorp (http://www.cyc.com) which is involved in the construction of the largest knowledge database and system for assumptions. On the lecture he will present us how to encode knowledge and how this knowledge is being used by computers with the intent to perform new unknown facts. He will also show some demos, which are pointing to the capabilities of Cyc which with its quality performs better results than any other known modern method which can be found on the web. We have to mention also that Cycorp has opened its new branch office in Slovenia.
On the seminar we will discuss the Cyc system which is said to be one of the most controversial experiments in computer and artificial intelligence history. The idea of Cyc has its beginnings in the 80s when the goal of a group of scientists from the University of Stanford was to build base of knowledge which would incorporate most of the knowledge we operate with in everyday life. On top of the knowledge base a mechanism of conclusion making would be used and would enable the use of encoded knowledge for the formulation of unknown knowledge. After 20 years of development the Cyc system contains a great quantity of common sense knowledge encoded in formal logic. The system was used for a series of difficult applications where a deeper view into the stored information was needed.
On the lecture we will be able to see how Cyc works in practice. Cyc and Jozef Stefan Institut, Slovenia have opened a new branch of Cyc to continue the development of the system. Michael Witborck is also the director of the Slovene affiliation.