Appropriate Uses of Hybrid Systems

While the techniques of connectionism and symbolic AI have been applied to many problems individually, there are far fewer systems which attempt to combine these techniques. This paper presents a possible set of factors one might use to determine when such hybrid approaches are appropriate. These factors include characteristics of the problem as well as the intended uses of the system. SCALIR, a hybrid system for retrieving legal documents, is presented, and is used to illustrate the motivating factors. Problems unique to hybrid systems are discussed, and possible solutions are given.