A level of description of the knowledge of an agent that is independent of the agent' s internal symbol-level representation. Knowledge can be attributed to agents by observing their actions. An agent "knows" something if it acts as if it had the information and is acting rationally to achieve its goals. The "actions" of agents, including knowledge base servers and {knowledge-based systems}, can be seen through a "tell and ask" functional interface, where a client interacts with an agent by making logical assertions (tell), and posing queries (ask). (1994-10-19)
