System and method for approximate reasoning using ontologies and unstructured data

A computer program product, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a device to cause the device to:

• receive a first query from at least one user, wherein the first query comprises a natural language format query;
• convert the first query from the natural language format to a SPARQL format;
• determine whether the first query is capable of being answered using symbolic reasoning performed on data of a symbolic knowledge base;
• execute the symbolic reasoning to generate a first query answer in response to a determination that the first query is capable of being answered using the symbolic reasoning, wherein executing the symbolic reasoning comprises automatically processing data from at least a portion of the symbolic knowledge base using a set of one or more artificial intelligence algorithms and one or more portions of data derived from the first query;
• receive a second query from the at least one user, wherein the second query comprises a natural language format query;
• convert the second query from the natural language format to a SPARQL format;
• extract one or more axioms from a plurality of documents in response to a determination that a second query is not capable of being answered using the symbolic reasoning;
• determine whether the one or more axioms are consistent with the symbolic knowledge base;
• and
• generate a second query answer based on the one or more axioms in response to a determination that the one or more axioms are consistent with the symbolic knowledge base.

A system comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured for:
• receiving a first query from at least one user, wherein the first query comprises a natural language format query;
• converting the first query from the natural language format to a SPARQL format;
• determining whether the first query is capable of being answered using symbolic reasoning performed on data of a symbolic knowledge base;
• executing the symbolic reasoning to generate a first query answer in response to a determination that the first query is capable of being answered using the symbolic reasoning, wherein executing the symbolic reasoning comprises automatically processing data from at least a portion of the symbolic knowledge base using a set of one or more artificial intelligence algorithms and one or more portions of data derived from the first query;
• receiving a second query from the at least one user, wherein the second query comprises a natural language format query;
• converting the second query from the natural language format to a SPARQL format;
• extracting one or more axioms from a plurality of documents in response to a determination that a second query is not capable of being answered using the symbolic reasoning;
• determining whether the one or more axioms are consistent with the symbolic knowledge base;
• and
• generating a second query answer based on the one or more axioms in response to a determination that the one or more axioms are consistent with the symbolic knowledge base.