Core ML Concepts · intermediate · concept 36 of 311 · Updated Nov 4, 2026
Knowledge Representation & Reasoning
Knowledge representation is the study of how to store facts and rules so that a machine can reason with them, using logic, ontologies, semantic networks and frames. It was the center of AI for decades. It has returned in knowledge graphs and neuro-symbolic systems, because language models are strong at wording and weak at guaranteed correct inference.
Key terms
First-order logicOntologyInference engineRDFDescription logic
Learn these first
Where you meet it in the real world
Knowledge graphs, medical and legal rule systems, schema.org, compliance checks
Guides and articles
CS50 AI: Knowledge ↗
Harvard
Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (site and code) ↗
Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig