XCON: The Expert System That Saved Millions

XCON (also called R1), created by John McDermott at Carnegie Mellon, configured VAX computer orders at Digital Equipment Corporation from 1980. By 1986 it had processed about 80,000 orders with 95–98% accuracy, and DEC estimated savings of about 25 million dollars a year. Key facts: • 1980: XCON, created by John McDermott, starts configuring VAX computers at DEC. • 1986: It had processed about 80,000 orders with 95 to 98% accuracy. • 1986: DEC estimated savings of about 25 million dollars a year. Sources: - AI Magazine (1984) - AI Magazine - Barker et al., CACM (1989) Playlist: History of AI 3 · AI Winters and Expert Systems (1954–1993) Series: The History of Artificial Intelligence, from its origins to 2026. Synthetic content / AI-generated visuals: narrated with a synthetic voice and illustrated with abstract computer-generated graphics; no real people are depicted. #HistoryOfAI #ArtificialIntelligence #AI