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Knowledge acquisition

As explained in Knowledge Graphs and LLMs in Action

Knowledge acquisition is the process of collecting information from sources, the environment, or domain experts for representation and reasoning.

Knowledge acquisition collects information from data sources, the environment, or domain experts and converts it into structured or implicit knowledge for reasoning. In advisory intelligent systems, it extends an established, domain-specific knowledge base using evidence and feedback from suggested actions. section 2.2.3 section 2.3

The acquisition pipeline differs by representation:

  • Knowledge graphs transform raw, structured, or semistructured data into entities, relationships, and properties guided by ontologies or schemas. Domain experts identify sources, shape the data model, and evaluate results. section 2.3
  • LLMs ingest large collections of unstructured text, encode information as statistical patterns in dense vector spaces, and rely mainly on source selection and cleaning. Their representations capture context but are opaque and difficult to modify. section 2.3
  • Hybrid systems combine explicit graph knowledge for structured reasoning with language-model interpretation for ambiguity, context, and incomplete information. section 2.7
Figure 2.6 Knowledge acquisition for KGs: converting available data into an explicit knowledge representation through structured entities, relationships, and properties. This process involves a domain expert who identifies relevant data sources, supports the data model, and evaluates the results.
figure figure

Shows the knowledge-graph pipeline from source identification and data modeling through explicit representation and expert evaluation. section 2.3

How Knowledge Graphs and LLMs in Action covers it

How deep it goes
Explains source collection, representation, expert involvement, and KG–LLM trade-offs.
Examples
Contrasts graph entities and relationships with text-derived statistical patterns, including expert evaluation and feedback.
What you can do after
Evaluate acquisition choices by comparing explicit, interpretable graphs with implicit, contextual but opaque language-model representations.
How it connects
Links knowledge representation, reasoning, knowledge graphs, LLMs, ontologies, schemas, and domain expertise.

Related concepts

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Knowledge Graphs and LLMs in Action. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.