Unit 11: Knowledge-based Technologies and Emerging Applications

Overview

As per the course website, "This unit aims to help you reflect on the various topics covered in the module and helps to investigate the future of knowledge-based systems as an approach to developing AI systems. It identifies various projects and initiatives on the ontology development for the future of knowledge-based systems different perspectives."

My Reflection

Overall Reflection

In this unit, we did a lecturecast and a reading by El Kadiri et al. (2015) on the role of ontologies in engineering applications and the formation of Ontology Based Engineering (OBE) Group, combining specialists of both domains, to promote research and example applications of ontologies in engineering.

In addition, this was the third week of the second collaborative discussion of the module, where we had to summarise the peer responses that we got on our initial posts from Unit 9. My summary post can be found in the artefacts below.

Finally, this was the week where we had to submit our final assignment, which was to develop an ontology for a local library search system to be implemented as AI-powered software, and write a report on the design and implementation choices made, with a critical persepctive, identifying strengths and areas of improvement.


Reference

El Kadiri, Soumaya et al. (2015). Ontology in Engineering Applications. 225. 10.1007/978-3-319-21545-7_11.

Artefacts

Collaborative Discussion

Summary Post

The discussion around ontology languages for software agents on the web has reinforced and refined my initial argument that OWL 2 (Web Ontology Language) and JSON‑LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) are the most relevant technologies in the emerging landscape of agentic AI. Our recent module units emphasise the importance of formal semantics, logical consistency, and machine‑interpretable knowledge structures. These principles align strongly with the roles these two languages play.

My peers broadly agreed with the central claim that OWL 2 remains essential due to its grounding in Description Logic and its capacity for automated reasoning. Fatema and Jordan both highlighted, that OWL 2's value is not diminished by the rise of LLMs, but rather amplified. Jordan's reference to iterative refinement loops using reasoners such as HermiT and Pellet supports my view that OWL 2 can act as a stabilising symbolic layer for probabilistic models (Magana and Monti, 2025). This reinforces the neuro‑symbolic perspective I initially pointed to and strengthens the argument that formal ontologies are indispensable for ensuring semantic coherence and explainability.

Both Fatema and Matthew raised an important distinction between ontology modelling and data serialisation, arguing that JSON‑LD is not itself an ontology language but a transport and interoperability layer built on RDF. Their feedback sheds light on a gap in my understanding on the difference between ontology and other forms of knowledge representation, and where the distinction lies, which is a gap that I look to bridge in the future. However, both colleagues agreed that JSON‑LD's power lies in enabling decentralised agent discovery, capability description, and cross‑platform communication, with their preserved comment stating that JSON-LD does not provide deep semantic expressiveness.

Jordan's contribution further situates OWL 2 and JSON‑LD within the broader shift toward a "web of agents" (Petrova et al., 2025). I agree that their complementarity, formal semantics plus flexible exchange, embodies the hybrid architectures now defining agentic AI.

Overall, the peer feedback has strengthened my position and clarified the layered roles these technologies play in ensuring both epistemic reliability and scalable interoperability in modern AI ecosystems.


References

Magana, I. and Monti, M. (2025) Enhancing Large Language Models through Neuro-Symbolic Integration and Ontological Reasoning, arXiv.org. Available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.07640v1 (Accessed: 23 December 2025).

Petrova, T. et al. (2025) From Semantic Web and MAS to Agentic AI: A Unified Narrative of the Web of Agents, arXiv.org. Available at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.10644 (Accessed: 23 December 2025).

Final Assignment: Library Ontology

The assignment details were as follows: "Using the Protégé software, design a prototype ontology to drive a search engine for a local Library. The Library is funded by the community and aims to improve on its services to the community by being more efficient in its service delivery. The library has in stock all sort of books ranging from fiction to non-fiction for adults and children. The Library Manager would like to use AI-powered software to help visitors search for books more efficiently. Your prototype design and report should explain how ontology can be used as the backbone for the software. Your report should critically examine your design to identify strengths and areas of improvement."

Demonstration of the project can be found in this project page, including the full report, which also can be downloaded here.