Moshe BenBassat

Moshe BenBassat

The Practimum-Optimum (P-O) algorithm represents a paradigm shift in developing automatic optimization products for complex real-life business problems such as large-scale manufacturing scheduling. It leverages deep business domain expertise to create a group of virtual human expert (VHE) agents with different "schools of thought" on how to create high-quality schedules. By computerizing them into algorithms, P-O generates many valid schedules at far higher speeds than human schedulers are capable of. Initially, these schedules can also be local optimum peaks far away from high-quality schedules. By submitting these schedules to a reinforced machine learning algorithm (RL), P-O learns the weaknesses and strengths of each VHE schedule, and accordingly derives reward and punishment changes in the Demand Set that will modify the relative priorities for time and resource allocation that jobs received in the prior iteration that led to the current state of the schedule. These cause the core logic of the VHE algorithms to explore, in the subsequent iteration, substantially different parts of the schedules universe and potentially find higher-quality schedules. Using the hill climbing analogy, this may be viewed as a big jump, shifting from a given local peak to a faraway promising start point equipped with knowledge embedded in the demand set for future iterations. This is a fundamental difference from most contemporary algorithms, which spend considerable time on local micro-steps restricted to the neighbourhoods of local peaks they visit. This difference enables a breakthrough in scale and performance for fully automatic manufacturing scheduling in complex organizations. The P-O algorithm is at the heart of Plataine Scheduler that, in one click, routinely schedules 30,000-50,000 tasks for real-life complex manufacturing operations.

Moshe BenBassat

A key step in medical diagnosis is giving the patient a universally recognized label (e.g. Appendicitis) which essentially assigns the patient to a class(es) of patients with similar body failures. However, two patients having the same disease label(s) with high probability may still have differences in their feature manifestation patterns implying differences in the required treatments. Additionally, in many cases, the labels of the primary diagnoses leave some findings unexplained. Medical diagnosis is only partially about probability calculations for label X or Y. Diagnosis is not complete until the patient overall situation is clinically understood to the level that enables the best therapeutic decisions. Most machine learning models are data centric models, and evidence so far suggest they can reach expert level performance in the disease labeling phase. Nonetheless, like any other mathematical technique, they have their limitations and applicability scope. Primarily, data centric algorithms are knowledge blind and lack anatomy and physiology knowledge that physicians leverage to achieve complete diagnosis. This article advocates to complement them with intelligence to overcome their inherent limitations as knowledge blind algorithms. Machines can learn many things from data, but data is not the only source that machines can learn from. Historic patient data only tells us what the possible manifestations of a certain body failure are. Anatomy and physiology knowledge tell us how the body works and fails. Both are needed for complete diagnosis. The proposed Double Deep Learning approach, along with the initiative for Medical Wikipedia for Smart Machines, leads to AI diagnostic support solutions for complete diagnosis beyond the limited data only labeling solutions we see today. AI for medicine will forever be limited until their intelligence also integrates anatomy and physiology.

Moshe BenBassat

Focusing on Business AI, this article introduces the AIQ quadrant that enables us to measure AI for business applications in a relative comparative manner, i.e. to judge that software A has more or less intelligence than software B. Recognizing that the goal of Business software is to maximize value in terms of business results, the dimensions of the quadrant are the key factors that determine the business value of AI software: Level of Output Quality (Smartness) and Level of Automation. The use of the quadrant is illustrated by several software solutions to support the real life business challenge of field service scheduling. The role of machine learning and conversational digital assistants in increasing the business value are also discussed and illustrated with a recent integration of existing intelligent digital assistants for factory floor decision making with the new version of Google Glass. Such hands free AI solutions elevate the AIQ level to its ultimate position.

Moshe BenBassat

Very important breakthroughs in data centric deep learning algorithms led to impressive performance in transactional point applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) such as Face Recognition, or EKG classification. With all due appreciation, however, knowledge blind data only machine learning algorithms have severe limitations for non-transactional AI applications, such as medical diagnosis beyond the EKG results. Such applications require deeper and broader knowledge in their problem solving capabilities, e.g. integrating anatomy and physiology knowledge with EKG results and other patient findings. Following a review and illustrations of such limitations for several real life AI applications, we point at ways to overcome them. The proposed Wikipedia for Smart Machines initiative aims at building repositories of software structures that represent humanity science & technology knowledge in various parts of life; knowledge that we all learn in schools, universities and during our professional life. Target readers for these repositories are smart machines; not human. AI software developers will have these Reusable Knowledge structures readily available, hence, the proposed name ReKopedia. Big Data is by now a mature technology, it is time to focus on Big Knowledge. Some will be derived from data, some will be obtained from mankind gigantic repository of knowledge. Wikipedia for smart machines along with the new Double Deep Learning approach offer a paradigm for integrating datacentric deep learning algorithms with algorithms that leverage deep knowledge, e.g. evidential reasoning and causality reasoning. For illustration, a project is described to produce ReKopedia knowledge modules for medical diagnosis of about 1,000 disorders. Data is important, but knowledge deep, basic, and commonsense is equally important.