An expert system is a type of artificial intelligence system that uses knowledge and inference rules to solve complex problems in a specific domain, similar to a human expert. It consists of a knowledge base containing rules and expertise from multiple human experts, an inference engine that applies the rules to the problem, and a user interface for the user to input queries. Expert systems are useful because they can provide expert-level advice 24/7 without fatigue, are consistent, and contain knowledge from many experts. Common applications of expert systems include medical diagnosis, banking advice, and legal consultation. However, expert systems also have limitations like inability to learn from mistakes or use common sense.