Interactive expert systems*

The author points out the advantages of using the collective intellect of a group of experts over that of a single expert – combination of disciplines, stimulation of creativity, exploiting intuition. Use of this enhanced problem-solving capacity must also take into account the negatives – conformity, domination, misunderstandings and indiscipline. The author discusses three ways of managing groups of experts: treating them as passive suppliers of precise answers to closed questions (as in conventional expert systems), as active idea-generators responding to openended questions (cf. brainstorming etc.) or, best of all, allowing them to interact constructively either passively or actively depending on the current requirements of the problem-solving process. The role of computer technologies is then to facilitate these interactive group processes, for example by holding the stock of ‘hard’ information, or helping the unhindered provision of individual inputs and permitting collective processing of those inputs towards a problem solution, or providing the technology for predicting the consequences of candidate group-defined solutions. Such assistance would be especially valuable in economic and technological forecasting.