Executive Insight: AI in the White House: Expert System Diagnoises Bounced E-Mail

Every once in a while an AI application comes along that stands out, not only for its technical merit, but more for its strategic merit. The paper discusses such an application at the White House. While it will be largely invisible, nestled into an electronic media affairs distribution system, it is noteworthy for several reasons. First, AI will soon be living at the White House, the powerful symbol of the US government. Second, it exemplifies the kind of support functions AI can perform in this new age of the National Information Infrastructure (NII). Third, this expert system was built by an AI scientist, based on his own expertise, to lighten his own workload. For the Clinton Administration, Comlink was a good way to practice what it preached; to actually get on the information superhighway by making government information widely available to the public via e-mail.