confidis v1.0.9

Confidis

Confidis is a key store for uncertain answers from multiple arguing sources with unknown reliability. Available as a Rust Crate or via npm for NodeJS and browsers.

try it online! or watch me explain a simple example

If you're aggregating information from multiple sources with mixed reliability, confidis will help you find the truth.

More technically, confidis is a Rust-WebAssembly truth discovery engine that interatively updates a graph of bayesian probabilities and is tuned for adverserial scenarios.

Features

• Simple, easy-to-use API
• Determine the quality of sources and the probability of their correctness
• Determine the probability that an answer is correct
• Performant against thousands of sources and millions of questions. Uses WebAssembly when using npm module.
• Can determine truth with exclusively poor sources (independent sources with accuracies less than 50%)
• Tested and adaptable to adverserial scenarios
• Compare complex, multivariate answers

Usage

Javascript (NodeJS)

npm install confidis / yarn add confidis

In nodejs:

const { GraphJS } = require("confidis/node")

const g = GraphJS.new()

g.execute_command("SET q1 a FROM s1")
g.execute_command("GET ANSWER TO q1") // { "cmd": "GetAnswer", confidience: 0.5, answer: "a" }

Javascript (Browser)

npm install confidis / yarn add confidis

For browsers, make sure you're using webpack with a WebAssembly loader (for CRA users, you may need to eject). The loader goes under the "module" key with the other loaders and looks like this:

{
  test: /\.wasm$/,
  type: "webassembly/experimental",
}

When you import, make sure you use an async import.

let confidis
import("confidis/webpack").then((c) => {
  confidis = c
})

// ...wait for confidis to load, it will be undefined until the import promise resolves

const GraphJS = confidis.GraphJS

const g = GraphJS.new()

g.execute_command("SET q1 a FROM s1")
g.execute_command("GET ANSWER TO q1") // { "cmd": "GetAnswer", confidience: 0.5, answer: "a" }

There is a working implementation in the tryonline folder that can be used for reference.

We're really hoping wasm-pack, webpack, create-react-app and the rust-wasm-js ecosystem make this easier in the future. Many things were tried with limited success to get the solution above.

Rust

Help wanted for this section.

Terms

• question: An uncertain key.
• source: An entity, e.g. a person, who can supply answers
• answer: An answer to a question from a source. An uncertain value.
• comparison_method: A method that indicates the similarity of answers, and whether or not they are acceptably close.

API

Simple Query API

SET <question_id> <answer_content> FROM <source_id>

GET ANSWER TO <question_id>
# Returns { "confidence": 0.88, "answer": "someanswer" }


# Other commands
BELIEVE <source_id>
CLEAR ALL QUESTIONS
CLEAR ALL ANSWERS
GET SOURCES FOR <question_id>
GET BEST SOURCE FOR <question_id>
REMOVE ANSWER TO <question_id> FROM <source_id>
REMOVE QUESTION <question_id>

ADD ANSWER <answer_content> FOR <question_id> FROM <source_id>

# Configuring
CONFIGURE <configuration_setting> <value> [some_parameter=some_parameter_value ...]

Configuration Settings

Each configuration parameter has a description in graphs.rs. Some recommendations for adjusting configuration to mitigate attacks can be found in ATTACKS.md.