The Role of Massive Parallelism in Parallel Inference Applications

The research conducted by ICOT is firmly based on the paradigm of parallel logic programming. We have developed a fifth generation computer system (FGCS) prototype and evaluated its performance and appropriateness with applications from various domains. Our experience in this area so far indicates that the functions of the FGCS can benefit from the use of massive parallelism for computationally intensive tasks such as pattern matching and brute-force searching. The logical inference, however, should retain its control over the entire problem solving process. As an example, in this extended abstract, we provide a brief overview of two parallel inference applications; one in the domain of legal reasoning and one is a Go game playing program. We, then, describe how massive parallelism can play a role in enhancing the performance of these applications.