Introducing expert critiquing systems

Expert critiquing systems present an interesting and important complement to conventional expert systems. The basic idea is to emphasize the support for the user's own decision making rather than to let the system independently suggest a solution to a given problem. Thus it is assumed that the user initially proposes a decision or course of action. The system then reviews this suggestion relative to known circumstance, tries to evaluate the proposed solution, provides suggestions for improvements, draws attention to possible risks, indicates alternatives, and evaluates their merits, etc. A critiquing system is characterized both by its approach to problem solving and by its style of interaction with the user, as will be detailed below.