Abstract explanations of strategy in a diagnostic consultation system
Diane Warner Hasling · National Conference on Artificial Intelligence · 1983
This paper presents the explanation system for NEOMYCIN*, a medical consultation program. A consultation program plays the role of an expert to assist a user in solving a problem. An explanation of strategy describes the plan the program is using to reach a solution. Such an explanation is usually concrete, referring to aspects of the current problem situation. Abstract explanations articulate a general principle, which can be applied in different situations; such explanations are useful in teaching and in explaining by analogy. We describe the aspects of NEOMYCIN that make abstract strategic explanations possible--the representation of strategic knowledge explicitly and separately from domain knowledge-and demonstrate how this representation can be used to generate explanations.