Autonomy of agents is a critical issue in the field of intelligent agents. It is indeed becoming central and relevant in the design and development of agents and multi-agents systems. In this paper we intend to articulate some fundamental concepts and concerns of the autonomy of agents. Some critical attributes in autonomy are reviewed from the perspective of a number of researches projecting c...

This paper reviews the current state of the art in the research concerning the development of autonomous artificial intelligent agents. First, the meaning of specific terms, like agency, automaticity, autonomy, embodiment, situatedness, and intelligence, are discussed in the context of this domain. The motivations for conducting research in this area are then exposed. We focus, in particular, o...

The availability of network-based information sources and services, along with the wide use of of World Wide Web, presents a great opportunity for enhanced problem solving support that incorporates information gathering into the problem solving framework. The concept of an intelligent information agent has been explored for information accessing and ltering tasks (e.g., ltering of newsgroup inf...

This paper deenes my depth area for the AI qualifying exam. In the next paragraphs I will give an intensional deenition. Following that will be a roughly-grouped list of papers which form a corresponding extensional deenition for the area. The goal of building an intelligent agent is almost synonymous with the goal of building an artiicial intelligence. This depth area scopes that to managable ...

An intelligent interface cannot just respond passively to its user’s commands and queries. It must be able to take the initiative in order to volunteer information, correct user misconceptions, or reject unethical user requests. To do these things, a system must be an intelligent agent. UCEgo is the intelligent agent component of UC (UNIX Consultant), a natural-language system that helps the us...

The perspective of modelling agents rather than using them for a specificed purpose entails a difference in approach. In particular an emphasis on veracity as opposed to efficiency. An approach using evolving populations of mental models is described that goes some way to meet these concerns. It is then ar gued that social intelligence is not mer ely intelligence plus interaction but should all...

In this paper we propose a computational model for implementing emotions in intelligent agents. Emotional behaviour is viewed as a complex mental behaviour directed towards a set of objects in response to changes in the agent’s environment. This mental behaviour is responsible for generating different types of mental objects: plans, goals, attitudes, and sub-emotions, which persist in the menta...

Intelligent agents have been applied to electronic commerce, promising a revolution in the way we conduct business, whether business-to-business, business-to-customer or customer-to-customer. This article gives a brief review of agent technologies involved in buying and selling, followed by lists of Internet e-commerce agents. Several agent-mediated electronic commerce systems are analysed in t...

The aim of this paper is to indicate and explore some of the possibilities of using agents in today’s and tomorrow’s law offices. The main function of agents is, in general, to support the user. In this case, a lawyer. To be able to support a practicing lawyer, however, not only is insight in daily practice required, but also understanding of practicing lawyers needs and desires. This position ...

This paper presents ongoing work in the definition of a contracting language, which can be used not only to specify agreed behaviour in service-oriented architectures but also for agentmediated systems. The contract clauses are based in deontic notions such as obligations, permissions and prohibitions. The language not only covers the contract document itself but several layers of communication...