Frank Coyle

Why Agentic Systems Need Ontologies — Frank Coyle, UC Berkeley

ontology design for AI agentsJul 23, 2026

Ontologies as formal shared conceptualizations

Frank Coyle defines an ontology as a formal specification of a shared conceptualization and says agents should be given that conceptualization of their domain.

Supporting evidence

Frank Coyle·Jul 23, 2026

Original excerpt

It is a, a formal specification of a shared conceptualization, and that's what we wanna give to our agents. We wanna give them our concept-- our conceptualization of the universe, our universe, our domains.

Context

knowledge and, uh, graph technology really represents.

Open original · 3:45 Transcript source

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neurosymbolic AI architecture

Why Agentic Systems Need Ontologies — Frank Coyle, UC Berkeley

neurosymbolic AI architectureJul 23, 2026

Neurosymbolic AI as LLM guardrails

Frank Coyle argues that neurosymbolic AI can help keep probabilistic LLMs on guardrails.

Supporting evidence

Frank Coyle·Jul 23, 2026

Original excerpt

what I'd like to argue is that neurosymbolic AI sort of represents a way to keep the LLM on its guardrails, because LLMs are by nature probabilistic.

Context

And so

Open original · 4:46 Transcript source

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agent validation workflow

Why Agentic Systems Need Ontologies — Frank Coyle, UC Berkeley

agent validation workflowJul 23, 2026

Ontology-driven validation in agent loops

Frank Coyle proposes using ontologies after a tool runs, formatting the returned information for a validator that operates with domain ontologies.

Supporting evidence

Frank Coyle·Jul 23, 2026

Original excerpt

if you look down there, a-after the, the tool is called, it said, "Tool runs," this is where ontologies could come in. The tool's gonna give us information. We put the information in a form that our, our, our, our validator can use.

Open original · 16:45 Transcript source

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ontology-based business logic enforcement

Why Agentic Systems Need Ontologies — Frank Coyle, UC Berkeley

ontology-based business logic enforcementJul 23, 2026

Ontologies for catching domain-specific errors

Frank Coyle says ontologies could catch errors such as a second refund on one order or a payout sent to support instead of the buyer. He describes catching such errors in English as tricky.

Supporting evidence

Frank Coyle·Jul 23, 2026

Original excerpt

A second refund on the same order is a, is, is a problem. [laughs] Ontologies could catch it, whereas it's ver- it's very tricky to do that in, in English. A payout sent to the support desk instead of the buyer, okay?

Open original · 19:12 Transcript source

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