The Machine Learning Toolbox Consultant

The Machine Learning Toolbox contains a set of ten Machine Learning algo rithms integrated with a common interface and common knowledge represen tation language An essential component of the Toolbox is the Consultant a knowledge based system that advises novice users about which algorithm they could use for a particular application We show how the Consultant s architecture evolved through its successive implementations from a rigid rule based expert system to a exible information browsing system supporting user experimentation In particular we show how a task description can be elicited from the user in three di erent modes and exploited by several functions to provide advice and explanations at various levels of detail The system s output also increased in sophistication initially limited to the recommendation of a suitable algorithm it now includes detailed information about the algorithm and its usage and will be extended to help the user interpret and improve the results of learning