Distinguishing Propositional and Action Commitment in Agent Communication

Our goal is to extend agent communication languages for persuasion dialogues. We distinguish action commitments from propositional commitments, because both limit future moves, but an action commitment is fulfilled when the hearer believes that the action is performed, whereas a propositional commitment is fulfilled only when the hearer concedes to the proposition – where concessions are the absence of a belief to the contrary, and prevent further challenges. Using a common model for both kind of commitments and a role-based semantics of agent communication languages, we show how propositional commitments are related to public beliefs and action commitments to public goals.