Where are the ‘real’ expert systems?

During the early 1980s the idea of expert systems became enormously popular and many organizations undertook research, developing prototypes and demonstrator systems. It was expected that this early work would bear fruit, in terms of fully-implemented and working systems, within a few years. In this article, the authors discuss the results of a literature survey looking for reports of such ‘real’ expert systems. Their findings are that there are few reports of systems genuinely at work, although this does not mean that such systems do not exist. Those that have been found suggest that success depends more on good software practice than on the expert systems technology used.