Douglas Lenat
Encyclopedia
Douglas B. Lenat is the CEO of Cycorp, Inc. of Austin, Texas
, and has been a prominent researcher in artificial intelligence
, especially machine learning
(with his AM
and Eurisko
programs), knowledge representation
, blackboard system
s, and "ontological engineering" (with his Cyc
program at MCC
and at Cycorp). He has also worked in military simulations and published a critique of conventional random-mutation Darwinism
based on his experience with Eurisko
. Lenat was one of the original Fellows of the AAAI.
Lenat's quest, in the Cyc project, is to build the basis of a general artificial intelligence
by manually representing knowledge in the formal language, CycL
, based on extensions to first-order predicate calculus.
, Lenat received his Bachelor's degree
in Mathematics and Physics, and his Master's degree
in Applied Mathematics in 1972. He received his Ph.D.
from Stanford University
(published in Knowledge-based systems in artificial intelligence, along with the Ph.D. thesis of Randall Davis, McGraw-Hill, 1982) in 1976. His advisor was Professor Edward Feigenbaum
.
In 1976 Lenat started teaching at Carnegie-Mellon and commenced his work on Eurisko
, but returned to Stanford in a teaching role in 1978. His continuing work on Eurisko led to attention in 1982 from DARPA and MCC in Austin, Texas
. In 1984 he left Stanford to commence work on Cyc
, the fruits of which were spun out of MCC into Cycorp in 1994. In 1986, he estimated the effort to complete Cyc would be 250,000 rules and 350 man-years of effort.
, Lenat continues his work on Cyc at Cycorp. He is also a member of TTI/Vanguard
's advisory board.
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, and has been a prominent researcher in artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
, especially machine learning
Machine learning
Machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, is a scientific discipline concerned with the design and development of algorithms that allow computers to evolve behaviors based on empirical data, such as from sensor data or databases...
(with his AM
Automated Mathematician
The Automated Mathematician is one of the earliest successful discovery systems. It was created by Doug Lenat in Lisp, and in 1977 led to Lenat being awarded the IJCAI Computers and Thought Award....
and Eurisko
Eurisko
Eurisko is a program written by Douglas Lenat in RLL-1, a representation language itself written in the Lisp programming language. A sequel to Automated Mathematician, it consists of heuristics, i.e. rules of thumb, including heuristics describing how to use and change its own heuristics...
programs), knowledge representation
Knowledge representation
Knowledge representation is an area of artificial intelligence research aimed at representing knowledge in symbols to facilitate inferencing from those knowledge elements, creating new elements of knowledge...
, blackboard system
Blackboard system
A blackboard system is an artificial intelligence application based on the blackboard architectural model, where a common knowledge base, the "blackboard", is iteratively updated by a diverse group of specialist knowledge sources, starting with a problem specification and ending with a solution...
s, and "ontological engineering" (with his Cyc
Cyc
Cyc is an artificial intelligence project that attempts to assemble a comprehensive ontology and knowledge base of everyday common sense knowledge, with the goal of enabling AI applications to perform human-like reasoning....
program at MCC
Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation
Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation was the first, and - at one time - one of the largest, computer industry research and development consortia in the United States....
and at Cycorp). He has also worked in military simulations and published a critique of conventional random-mutation Darwinism
Darwinism
Darwinism is a set of movements and concepts related to ideas of transmutation of species or of evolution, including some ideas with no connection to the work of Charles Darwin....
based on his experience with Eurisko
Eurisko
Eurisko is a program written by Douglas Lenat in RLL-1, a representation language itself written in the Lisp programming language. A sequel to Automated Mathematician, it consists of heuristics, i.e. rules of thumb, including heuristics describing how to use and change its own heuristics...
. Lenat was one of the original Fellows of the AAAI.
Lenat's quest, in the Cyc project, is to build the basis of a general artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
by manually representing knowledge in the formal language, CycL
CycL
CycL in computer science and artificial intelligence is an ontology language used by Doug Lenat's Cyc artificial intelligence project. Ramanathan V. Guha was instrumental in the design of early versions of the language. There is a close variant of CycL known as MELD.The original version of CycL was...
, based on extensions to first-order predicate calculus.
Background
At the University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, Lenat received his Bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in Mathematics and Physics, and his Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in Applied Mathematics in 1972. He received his Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
from Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
(published in Knowledge-based systems in artificial intelligence, along with the Ph.D. thesis of Randall Davis, McGraw-Hill, 1982) in 1976. His advisor was Professor Edward Feigenbaum
Edward Feigenbaum
Edward Albert Feigenbaum is a computer scientist working in the field of artificial intelligence. He is often called the "father of expert systems."...
.
In 1976 Lenat started teaching at Carnegie-Mellon and commenced his work on Eurisko
Eurisko
Eurisko is a program written by Douglas Lenat in RLL-1, a representation language itself written in the Lisp programming language. A sequel to Automated Mathematician, it consists of heuristics, i.e. rules of thumb, including heuristics describing how to use and change its own heuristics...
, but returned to Stanford in a teaching role in 1978. His continuing work on Eurisko led to attention in 1982 from DARPA and MCC in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. In 1984 he left Stanford to commence work on Cyc
Cyc
Cyc is an artificial intelligence project that attempts to assemble a comprehensive ontology and knowledge base of everyday common sense knowledge, with the goal of enabling AI applications to perform human-like reasoning....
, the fruits of which were spun out of MCC into Cycorp in 1994. In 1986, he estimated the effort to complete Cyc would be 250,000 rules and 350 man-years of effort.
, Lenat continues his work on Cyc at Cycorp. He is also a member of TTI/Vanguard
TTI/Vanguard
TTI/Vanguard is an advanced technology conference series for senior-level executives. Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, TTI/Vanguard explores emerging and potentially disruptive technologies and their global impact. Five times annually, corporate and government leaders, entrepreneurs,...
's advisory board.
Quotes
- "Intelligence is ten million rules."
- "The time may come when a greatly expanded Cyc will underlie countless software applications. But reaching that goal could easily take another two decades."
- "Once you have a truly massive amount of information integrated as knowledge, then the human-software system will be superhuman, in the same sense that mankind with writing is superhuman compared to mankind before writing."
Writings
- Davis, Randall, and Douglas B. Lenat. Knowledge-Based Systems in Artificial Intelligence. New York: McGraw-Hill International Book Co, 1982. ISBN 978-0070155572
- Hayes-Roth, Frederick, D. A. Waterman, and Douglas B. Lenat. Building Expert Systems. Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co, 1983. ISBN 978-0201106862
External links
- Douglas Lenat bio page at Cyc.com
- "Beyond the Semantic Web" video lecture at NIPS 2008.
- "How David Beats Goliath" article at The New Yorker.