Are there any efforts to combining a knowledge base like Cyc together with LLMs and the like?
Yes. It's something I've been working on, so there's at least 1 such effort. And I'm reasonably sure there are others. The idea is too obvious for there to not be other people pursuing it.
> Can I read anywhere about what you're working on?
Not yet. It's still early days.
> What other approaches exist?
Loosely speaking, I'd say this entire discussion falls into the general rubric of what people are calling "neuro-symbolic AI". Now within that there are a lot of different ways to try and combine different modalities. There are things like DeepProbLog, LogicTensorNetworks, etc.
For anybody who wants to learn more, consider starting with:
Yes. It's something I've been working on, so there's at least 1 such effort. And I'm reasonably sure there are others. The idea is too obvious for there to not be other people pursuing it.