Laws@SRI-AI.ARPA (01/02/84)
From: Ken Laws <Laws@SRI-AI.ARPA>
The January issue of High Technology has a fairly good introduction
to expert systems for commercial applications. As usual for this
magazine, there are corporate names and addresses and product
prices. The article mentions that there are probably fewer than
200 "knowledge engineers" in the country, most at universities
and think tanks; an AI postdoc willing to go into industry, but
with no industry experience, can command $70K.
The business outlook section is not the usual advice column
for investors, just a list of some well-known AI companies. The
article is also unusual in that it bases a few example of knowledge
representation and inference on the fragment BIRD IS-A MAMMAL.
Another interesting article is "Designing Molecules by Computer".
Several approaches are given, but one seems particularly pertinent
to the recent AIList discussion of military AI funding. Du Pont
researchers are studying how a drug homes in on its receptor site.
They use an Army program that generates line-of-sight maps for
TV-controlled antitank missiles to "fly" a drug in and observe how its
ability to track its receptor site on the enzyme surface is influenced
by a variety of force fields and solvent interactions. A different
simulation with a similar purpose uses robotic software for assembling
irregular components to "pick up" the drug and "insert" it in the
enzyme.
-- Ken Laws