Ron Fulbright

Ron Fulbright

Computers are quickly gaining on us. Artificial systems are now exceeding the performance of human experts in several domains. However, we do not yet have a deep definition of expertise. This paper examines the nature of expertise and presents an abstract knowledge-level and skill-level description of expertise. A new level lying above the Knowledge Level, called the Expertise Level, is introduced to describe the skills of an expert without having to worry about details of the knowledge required. The Model of Expertise is introduced combining the knowledge-level and expertise-level descriptions. Application of the model to the fields of cognitive architectures and human cognitive augmentation is demonstrated and several famous intelligent systems are analyzed with the model.

Ron Fulbright, Grover Walters

We will soon be surrounded by artificial systems capable of cognitive performance rivaling or exceeding a human expert in specific domains of discourse. However, these cogs need not be capable of full general artificial intelligence nor able to function in a stand-alone manner. Instead, cogs and humans will work together in collaboration each compensating for the weaknesses of the other and together achieve synthetic expertise as an ensemble. This paper reviews the nature of expertise, the Expertise Level to describe the skills required of an expert, and knowledge stores required by an expert. By collaboration, cogs augment human cognitive ability in a human/cog ensemble. This paper introduces six Levels of Cognitive Augmentation to describe the balance of cognitive processing in the human/cog ensemble. Because these cogs will be available to the mass market via common devices and inexpensive applications, they will lead to the Democratization of Expertise and a new cognitive systems era promising to change how we live, work, and play. The future will belong to those best able to communicate, coordinate, and collaborate with cognitive systems.

Ron Fulbright, Samuel McGaha

When performing a task alone, humans achieve a certain level of performance. When humans are assisted by a tool or automation to perform the same task, performance is enhanced (augmented). Recently developed cognitive systems are able to perform cognitive processing at or above the level of a human in some domains. When humans work collaboratively with such cogs in a human/cog ensemble, we expect augmentation of cognitive processing to be evident and measurable. This paper shows the degree of cognitive augmentation depends on the nature of the information the cog contributes to the ensemble. Results of an experiment are reported showing conceptual information is the most effective type of information resulting in increases in cognitive accuracy, cognitive precision, and cognitive power.

Ron Fulbright

Whenever humans use tools human performance is enhanced. Cognitive systems are a new kind of tool continually increasing in cognitive capability and are now performing high level cognitive tasks previously thought to be explicitly human. Usage of such tools, known as cogs, are expected to result in ever increasing levels of human cognitive augmentation. In a human cog ensemble, a cooperative, peer to peer, and collaborative dialog between a human and a cognitive system, human cognitive capability is augmented as a result of the interaction. The human cog ensemble is therefore able to achieve more than just the human or the cog working alone. This article presents results from two studies designed to measure the effect information supplied by a cog has on cognitive accuracy, the ability to produce the correct result, and cognitive precision, the propensity to produce only the correct result. Both cognitive accuracy and cognitive precision are shown to be increased by information of different types (policies and rules, examples, and suggestions) and with different kinds of problems (inventive problem solving and puzzles). Similar effects shown in other studies are compared.