This book was written in response to the need for a non-technical discussion of intelligent systems. Specialists from a variety of disciplines discuss the achievements that have been made and consider what contributions human and social scientists can make to ensure that man-made intelligentsystems are beneficial rather than detrimental to human beings. Topics include the role of the human expert, how best to represent knowledge, the interface between the user and the machine, and the organizational context in which intelligent systems are deployed. Applications of intelligentsystems in medicine and education and their potential as consumer products are described and discussed, and the implications for sociology and social anthropological study are considered.