knowledge level

artificial intelligence A level of description of the

knowledge of an agent that is independent of the agent's

internal symbol-level representation. Knowledge can be

attributed to agents by observing their actions. An agent

"knows" something if it acts as if it had the information and

is acting rationally to achieve its goals. The "actions" of

agents, including knowledge base servers and knowledge-basedsystems, can be seen through a "tell and ask" functional

interface, where a client interacts with an agent by making

logical assertions (tell), and posing queries (ask).

(1994-10-19)