Most of the expert systems that have thus far been discussed are essentially stand-alone systems. However, in the very near future it is likely that a large portions (if not the majority) of the expert systems that are developed will be embedded systems, that is, systems that form only a part of the overall software package.

Another form of the embedded expert system is that of the so- called intelligent interface. Intelligent interfaces shall rely, more and more, on expert systems to better achieve user friendliness in software.

Another trend that we expect to continue is the increased development of smaller expert systems. However, with the advent of powerful, inexpensive expert system shells and with implementation on the personal computer, the developments of small expert systems are highly cost effective.

In the future, we will see improvements in several areas of expert systems technology: