# Inference Corporation

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Artificial intelligence software company

Inference Corporation Defunct 2000; 26 years ago (2000) Fate Acquired by eGain Website inference.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 1999-02-09)

**Inference Corporation**[1][2] was an American software company that specialized in [artificial intelligence](/source/Artificial_intelligence) systems.[3]

## History

[Los Angeles](/source/Los_Angeles)-based *Inference* was founded in 1979.[3] In the 1990s they built a [case-based](/source/Case-based_reasoning) computer program for [Compaq Computer Corporation](/source/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](/source/Help_desk).[1] Although such software already existed, the breakthrough was that it was small enough to fit "on three [floppy disks](/source/Floppy_disk)."

The company's *Automated Reasoning Tool* (ART), initially implemented on a [mainframe](/source/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](/source/Ford_Motor_Company) and [AOL](/source/AOL) are among the household-known corporations that use *Inference* software to enhance customer service.[6][3] *Inference* was acquired by [eGain Corporation](/source/EGain) in 2000.[7] Prior to that, *Inference* acquired 1981-founded *Computer Mathematics Corporation*, marketer of *[SMP (computer algebra system)](/source/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](/source/Knowledge_base) representation.[12]

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

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-InferenceCorp.NYT93_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-InferenceCorp.NYT93_1-1) Sabra Chartrand (August 4, 1993). ["Compaq Printer Can Tell You What's Ailing It"](https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/04/business/business-technology-compaq-printer-can-tell-you-what-s-ailing-it.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. developed for Compaq by the Inference Corporation

1. **[^](#cite_ref-InferenceCorp.NYT1988_2-0)** John Markoff (May 15, 1988). ["Can Machines Learn to Think?; The Artificial Intelligence Industry Is Retrenching"](https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/15/weekinreview/ideas-trends-can-machines-learn-think-artificial-intelligence-industry.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-InferenceCorp.NYT85_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-InferenceCorp.NYT85_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-InferenceCorp.NYT85_3-2) ["Ford Acquires A Stake In Artificial Intelligence"](https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/25/business/ford-acquires-a-stake-in-artificial-intelligence.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. October 25, 1985.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** M. Ragheb (1988). ["Knowledge-Based Systems and Interactive Graphics for Reactor Control using the Automated Reasoning Tool(Art) System"](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4613-1009-9_53). *Knowledge-Based Systems and Interactive Graphics*. Boston, MA: Springer. pp. 429–436. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1007/978-1-4613-1009-9_53](https://doi.org/10.1007%2F978-1-4613-1009-9_53). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4612-8290-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4612-8290-7).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** K. D. Bimson (1988). "Conceptual model-based reasoning for knowledge-based software project management". *[1988] Proceedings of the Twenty-First Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. Volume III: Decision Support and Knowledge Based Systems Track*. Vol. 1. pp. 255–265. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1109/HICSS.1988.11915](https://doi.org/10.1109%2FHICSS.1988.11915). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-8186-0843-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8186-0843-9). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [4654605](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:4654605).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Technology Briefs"](https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB940992900487504276). *[The Wall Street Journal](/source/The_Wall_Street_Journal)*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["E-Commerce Software Firm eGain To Buy Inference for $73 million"](https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB953213045882925378). *[The Wall Street Journal](/source/The_Wall_Street_Journal)*. March 17, 2000.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Stephen Wolfram: A New Kind of Science"](https://www.wolframscience.com/media/timeline.html).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** (Verix) ["Inference Corp /ca/ 1999 8-K/A Current report"](https://sec.report/Document/0000929624-99-001244/). July 9, 1999.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-auto1_10-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-auto1_10-1) ["Automated Reasoning Tool, Online Historical Encyclopaedia of Programming Languages"](https://web.archive.org/web/20200722050137/https://hopl.info/showlanguage2.prx?exp=1031). Archived from [the original](https://hopl.info/showlanguage2.prx?exp=1031) on July 22, 2020. Retrieved July 1, 2021.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-auto_11-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-auto_11-1) ["Haley / ART syntax lives on in open-source Java rules – Commercial Intelligence"](http://haleyai.com/wordpress/2008/02/20/haley-art-syntax-lives-on-in-open-source-java-rules). February 20, 2008.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** [Artificial Intelligence Study](https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a181029.pdf) (PDF) (Report). February 1987. pp. 2–49. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20210709184515/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a181029.pdf) (PDF) from the original on July 9, 2021. ART evolved from an expert system used to interpret radar signals from space flight operation at NASA.

## External links

- [Official website](https://web.archive.org/web/19990209092919/http://inference.com/) at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) (archived 1999-02-09)

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