Deductive classifier

A deductive classifier is a type of artificial intelligence inference engine. It takes as input a set of declarations in a frame language about a domain such as medical research or molecular biology. For example, the names of classes, sub-classes, properties, and restrictions on allowable values. The classifier determines if the various declarations are logically consistent and if not will highlight the specific inconsistent declarations and the inconsistencies among them. If the declarations are consistent the classifier can then assert additional information based on the input. For example, it can add information about existing classes, create additional classes, etc. This differs from traditional inference engines that trigger off of IF-THEN conditions in rules. Classifiers are also similar to theorem provers in that they take as input and produce output via First Order Logic. Classifiers originated with KL-ONE Frame languages. They are increasingly significant now that they form a part in the enabling technology of the Semantic Web. Modern classifiers leverage the Web Ontology Language. The models they analyze and generate are called ontologies.

A classic problem in knowledge representation for artificial intelligence is the trade off between the expressive power and the computational efficiency of the knowledge representation system. The most powerful form of knowledge representation is First Order Logic (FOL). However, it is not possible to implement knowledge representation that provides the complete expressive power of first order logic. Such a representation will include the capability to represent concepts such as the set of all integers which are impossible to iterate through. Implementing an assertion quantified for an infinite set by definition results in an undecidable non-terminating program. However, the problem is deeper than not being able to implement infinite sets. As Levesque demonstrated, the closer a knowledge representation mechanism comes to FOL, the more likely it is to result in expressions that require infinite or unacceptably large resources to compute.

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