Work

An SMT-Based Approach to the Verification of Knowledge-Based Programs

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: We give a general-purpose programming language in which programs can reason about their own knowledge. To specify what these intelligent programs know, we define a “program epistemic” logic, akin to a dynamic epistemic logic for programs. Our logic properties are complex, including programs introspecting into future state of affairs, i.e., reasoning now about facts that hold only after they and other threads will execute. To model aspects anchored in privacy, our logic is interpreted over partial observability of variables, thus capturing that each thread can “see” only a part of the global space of variables. We verify program-epistemic properties on such AI-centred programs. To this end, we give a sound translation of the validity of our program-epistemic logic into first-order validity, using a new weakest-precondition semantics and a book-keeping of variable assignment. We implement our translation and fully automate our verification method for well-established examples using SMT solvers.

Source: Formal Aspects of Computing

DOI: 10.1145/3700150

Authors: Francesco Belardinelli, Ioana Boureanu, Vadim Malvone, Fortunat Rajaona

Institutions: Imperial College London, University of Surrey, Télécom Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris

Language: English

Topic: Logic, Reasoning, and Knowledge

Subfield: Artificial Intelligence

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,780

OpenAlex ID: W4403318519

FWCI: 0.147

Cites: 31

Cited by: 1

Related to: 10