Cyc
Cyc
(artificial intelligence)Cyc is a very large, multi-contextual knowledge base andinference engine, the development of which started at theMicroelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC)in Austin, Texas during the early 1980s.
Over the past eleven years the members of the Cyc team, leadby Doug Lenat, have added to the knowledge base a hugeamount of fundamental human knowledge: facts, rules ofthumb, and heuristics for reasoning about the objects andevents of modern everyday life.
Cyc is an attempt to do symbolic AI on a massive scale. Itis not based on numerical methods such as statisticalprobabilities, nor is it based on neural networks or fuzzy logic. All of the knowledge in Cyc is representeddeclaratively in the form of logical assertions. Cycpresently contains approximately 400,000 significantassertions, which include simple statements of fact, rulesabout what conclusions to draw if certain statements of factare satisfied, and rules about how to reason with certaintypes of facts and rules. The inference engine derives newconclusions using deductive reasoning.
To date, Cyc has made possible ground-breaking pilotapplications in the areas of heterogeneous database browsingand integration, captioned image retrieval, and natural language processing.
In January of 1995, a new independent company named Cycorp wascreated to continue the Cyc project. Cycorp is still inAustin, Texas. The president of Cycorp is Doug Lenat.
The development of Cyc has been supported by severalorganisations, including Apple, Bellcore, DEC, DoD,Interval, Kodak, and Microsoft.
http://cyc.com/.
Unofficial FAQ.