(See paper for details: http://attempto.ifi.uzh.ch/site/pubs/papers/kuhn07acerules.pdf )

1. AceRules: Executing Rules in Controlled
Natural Language
Tobias Kuhn
(University of Zurich)
RR2007
Innsbruck
8 June 2007

2. Tobias Kuhn, RR2007, 8 June 2007 2
Introduction
 Domain specialists that are supposed to create
and/or validate rules are often not familiar with
formal languages
 Verbalization of the rules in natural language
becomes necessary
 Translation of rules into NL (and backwards) is
complicated and a potential source of errors

3. Tobias Kuhn, RR2007, 8 June 2007 3
The AceRules Approach
 Expressing rules in controlled natural language
 Attempto Controlled English (ACE)
 http://attempto.ifi.uzh.ch
 formal and human readable

4. Tobias Kuhn, RR2007, 8 June 2007 4
Attempto Controlled English
(ACE)
 Developed at the University of Zurich
 Formal language with a restricted English grammar
 ACE supports: quantification, negation, conditional
sentences, modality, active & passive voice,
singular & plural, relative clauses, conjunction &
disjunction, anaphoric references, pronouns,
variables, commands, queries, macros
 ACE texts can be translated automatically and
unambiguously into first-order logic

5. Tobias Kuhn, RR2007, 8 June 2007 5
ACE as a Rule Language:
Some Examples
 John is an important customer.
customer('John') <-
important('John') <-
 No clerk is a customer.
-customer(A) <- clerk(A)
 Everyone who is not provably a criminal is trustworthy.
trustworthy(A) <- ~criminal(A)
 If a resource is public then every user can download the resource.
can(download(A,B)) <- user(A), resource(B), public(B)
 If a user is authenticated and has a subscription and there is a resource
that is available for the subscription then the user can download the
resource.
can(download(A,B)) <- be_available_for(B,C), have(A,C),
resource(B), subscription(C), user(A), authenticated(A)

6. Tobias Kuhn, RR2007, 8 June 2007 6
AceRules
 Input and output in controlled natural language
(ACE)
 Forward chaining interpreters
John is a man.
Every man is a human.
Mary is a woman.
Every woman is a human.
No man is a woman and no woman is a man.
Everyone who is not provably a criminal is
trustworthy.
John is a criminal.
No criminal is trustworthy.
Every human who is trustworthy gets a credit-
card from BankX.
Mary is trustworthy.
BankX is trustworthy.
Mary is a woman.
Mary is a human.
John is a man.
John is a human.
John is a criminal.
Mary gets a credit-card from BankX.
It is false that John is trustworthy.
It is false that John is a woman.
It is false that Mary is a man.
Program: Answer:

7. Tobias Kuhn, RR2007, 8 June 2007 7
Semantics
 Semantics are exchangeable
 Currently supported semantics:
 Courteous logic programs
 Stable models
 Stable models with strong negation
 Other semantics (i.e. interpreters) could be
incorporated with little integration effort.

8. Tobias Kuhn, RR2007, 8 June 2007 8
Web Interface
 http://attempto.ifi.uzh.ch/acerules

9. Tobias Kuhn, RR2007, 8 June 2007 9
The Missing Link:
Authoring Tool
 Problem: How to learn writing in ACE?

10. Tobias Kuhn, RR2007, 8 June 2007 10
Thank you for your attention!
Questions?

11. Tobias Kuhn, RR2007, 8 June 2007 11
Architecture

12. Tobias Kuhn, RR2007, 8 June 2007 12
Comparison of the Semantics