AGENTS

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• AGENTS
• Heather Nodler
• INF 385Q - Knowledge Management Systems
• Dr. Don Turnbull
• April 26, 2005

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Definition

• Agents
• Autonomous software processes that interact with
  users and with each other according to certain
  conventions
• Assist users with information gathering and other
  processes
• Sometimes called bots

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Why Agents?

• In the Internet age, agents help users cope with
  ever-increasing amounts of information and work.

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Some Requirements

• Technical
• Processes must flow smoothly and accurately
• Social
• Users need sense of control
• Users privacy must be maintained
• Users must be able to see/change actions taken by
  agents

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How Agents Work

• Knowledge-based - Interface agent endowed with
  knowledge of a specific application and a
  specific user or set of users
• Learning - Autonomous agent performs tasks like a
  personal assistant, learning users behavior
  through observation and communication with other
  agents

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Agents That Learn

• Advantages
• Require minimum background knowledge
• Program themselves, are more dynamic
• Increase in reliability over time, gain user
  trust
• Can get help from other agents to deal with
  specific user tasks
• Assist in transfer of knowledge among users in a
  group

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Agents That Learn

• Disadvantages
• Use of application requires a good deal of
  repetitive behavior
• Can create privacy issues, especially when agents
  share info with each other
• Lack subtlety of human judgement/behavior
• Agents can exhibit imperfect behavior, especially
  early on
• Users might have overblown expectations
• Cold start problem

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Examples of Learning Agents

• E-mail handling applications
• Meeting scheduling agents
• Electronic news filtering agents
• Entertainment recommender systems
• Online dating systems
• Other applications

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The Easy Bee
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Agent Utopia

• Will serve as social equalizers, giving full
  support staff to people who couldnt afford it
  otherwise
• Will make our lives easier
• Will grow smarter, more effective, and will be
  entrusted with more critical information
• Everything will be transparent

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Agent Dystopia

• Will create conflicts/confusion
• Will invade users privacy
• Will allow more code-savvy users to deceive/take
  advantage of others
• Will take the human element out of processes that
  benefit from some error (e.g., markets)
• Will create overstandardization

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Questions for Discussion

• To what extent do you use/trust agents now?
  Examples?
• What will agents of the future do?
• How can agents be applied in KM?
• Are some some things too important to be
  entrusted to agents?