Practical artificial intelligence and business rules

The preceding business rule examples deliberately used a when ... then format. This was no accident; the format gives clarity about the knowledge we are trying to share with the AI system.

The when … then format

Let’s highlight the key format for writing business rules:

When "something is true" then "take some action"

This is a very simple concept, so simple that if you’re an Excel power user (or have programmed in other languages), this is something that might trip you up.

In Excel, the flow is important – one cell references another, which might reference a third cell – but the order in which the values will be calculated is guaranteed. Likewise, in computer languages such as Java or VBA, statements are executed strictly in the order they are written (with options to loop and call functions).

A business rule can activate any time the “when” part...