Current research directions in the development of expert systems based on belief networks

An expert system is a computer program that is designed to solve problems at a level comparable to that of a human expert in a given domain. Often expert systems require a representation of uncertainty. This paper highlights some of the key developments in the history of representing uncertainty in expert systems. An uncertainty representation called belief networks is then introduced and its use in expert systems is motivated. The paper concludes with a discussion of current directions in belief network research.