leff%smu@csnet-relay.UUCP.UUCP (01/27/87)
The first Article: The AI Winter? This is a discussion of whether the "AI industry" has "losts its momentum" or is it a changing market. There is also a discussion of the possibilities of AI being done in conventional programming languages. ____________________________________________________________________________ Investors Viewpoint Interview with Montgomery Venture on the possibilities of venture capital for AI companies. ___________________________________________________ New Products Borland has introduced a Prolog toolbox to go with its Prolog. It includes features to assist in the user interface, to import data from various other microcomputer programs such as 1-2-3, parser generators, serial communications. ________________________________________________________________________ Japan Watch The Japanese Manufacturing industry is now using 500 AI work stations. These included 153 Symbolics 3600 series, 15 Lambda series, 50 Fujitsu Facom Systems, 300 Xerox 1121's and seven TI Explorers. The Japanese AI Market is 3.125 million dollars. The Japanese hosted the Sixth Medical Information Study Conference. Japanese Hospitals are using SURGIST-AI from Fujitsu and EXCORE from NEC. Nihon Electronics technology Institute of Tokyo has a two year course for "knowledge engineering." NEC will be releasing a new AI system called Co-operative HIgh performance Inference machine (CHI). _____________________________________________________________________ Japanese Construction Applications Fudo Construction is developing a design support system for the entire phase of building construction. Tokyo construction has developed the Land Development Provisions Consultation Expert System. Mitsui is planning to develop several AI systems. Asahi Glass is developing a production planning system for plate glas sprocessing. Nihon cement will develop a cement manufacturing expert system. _______________________________________________________________________ Shorts: One third of the nation's largest insurance companies are using or are in the process of gearing up to use expert systems. However only two per cent have actually put expert systems into use. Lucid has completed a 4.5 million dollar second round of financing. ______________________________________________________________________ Reviews of Applying Expert Systems in Business by Dimitris Chorafas, Expert Systems TEchniques Tools and Applications by Philip Klahr and Donald A. Waterman, Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems by V. Daniel Hunt, Advances in Cognitive Science 1 edited by N. E. Sharkey and Explanation Patterns; Understanding Mechanically and creatively by Roger C. Shank.