Authorizer's Assistant: a knowledge-based system for credit authorization

In 1988, American Express deployed the Authorizer's Assistant (AA), a knowledge-based expert system for credit authorization. The AA went through two distinct phases: the pilot and the rollout. The goal of the pilot was to determine whether artificial intelligence could apply at American Express. For the pilot, expertise for handling credit authorization requests was developed and evaluated. The result was a sound business case for implementation. For rollout, the system was made robust and stable. A fault tolerant architecture was designed to provide round-the-clock service. The resulting system has been expanded and has evolved with company credit policy.