PRODUCTION SYSTEMS AND AI

Most artificial intelligence (AI) systems display a more or less rigid separation between the standard computational components of data, operations, and control. That is, if these systems are described at an appropriate level, one can often identify a central entity that might be called and global database that is manipulated by certain well-defined operations, all under the control of some global control strategy. The chapter discusses the importance of identifying an appropriate level of description. Near the machine-code level, any neat separation into distinct components can disappear; at the top level, the complete AI system can consist of several database/operations/control modules interacting in a complex fashion. The point is that a system consisting of separate database, operations, and control components represents an appropriate metaphorical building block for constructing lucid descriptions of AI systems.