Inference Corporation

Inference Corporation^[1][2] was an American software company that specialized in artificial intelligence systems.^[3]

Inference Corporation

Founded	1979; 46 years ago (1979)
Defunct	2000; 25 years ago (2000)
Fate	Acquired by eGain
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Website	inference.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 1999-02-09)

History

Los Angeles-based Inference was founded in 1979.^[3] In the 1990s they built a case-based computer program for Compaq Computer Corporation that would enable dealing with a situation where "a computer printer turns out a blurry and smeared page" without having to call a help desk.^[1] Although such software already existed, the breakthrough was that it was small enough to fit "on three floppy disks."

The company's Automated Reasoning Tool (ART), initially implemented on a mainframe, subsequently made available on PCs, has been extended to ART-IM, an Information Management package; the product line originated in 1988.^[4][5]

Ford and AOL are among the household-known corporations that use Inference software to enhance customer service.^[6][3] Inference was acquired by eGain Corporation in 2000.^[7] Prior to that, Inference acquired 1981-founded Computer Mathematics Corporation, marketer of SMP (computer algebra system);^[8] Inference made another acquisition the year before they themselves were acquired by eGain.^[9]

Automated Reasoning Tool

The Automated Reasoning Tool (ART) is a system designed by Paul Haley,^[10] Chuck Williams, Brad Allen, and Mark Wright,^[11] to design rule-based knowledge representations with options for frame and procedural methods of knowledge base representation.^[12]

ART's syntax influenced NASA's derived CLIPS in the mid-80s.^[11] ART is a derivative of OPS5, with extensions, built for the Inference Corporation.^[10]