Information-based agency

Successful negotiators look beyond a purely utilitarian view. We propose a new agent architecture that integrates the utilitarian, information, and semantic views allowing the definition of strategies that take these three dimensions into account. Information-based agency values the information in dialogues in the context of a communication language based on a structured ontology and on the notion of commitment. This abstraction unifies measures such as trust, reputation, and reliability in a single framework

Unifying trust, honour and reliability

An argumentation based negotiation model is supported by information theory. Argumentative dialogues change the models of agents with respect to ongoing relationships. Trust and Honour are key components. Trust measures expected deviations of behaviour in the execution of commitments. Honour measures the expected integrity of the arguments exchanged. We understand rhetorical moves in dialogues as actions to project the current relationships into the future. © 2008 IEEE

A map of trust between trading partners

A pair of 'trust maps' give a fine-grained view of an agent's accumulated, time-discounted belief that the enactment of commitments by another agent will be in-line with what was promised, and that the observed agent will act in a way that respects the confidentiality of previously passed information. The structure of these maps is defined in terms of a categorisation of utterances and the ontology. Various summary measures are then applied to these maps to give a succinct view of trust. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2008

An agent architecture for an uncertain world

Successful negotiators look beyond a purely utilitarian view. We propose a new agent architecture that was inspired by the observation that "Everything that an agent says gives away (valuable) information." It is intended for agents who are uncertain about their environment. Information-based agency uses tools from information theory, and includes techniques for managing information exchange including: the acceptance of contracts, the estimation of trust, reliability, honour and confidence. © 2008 IEEE

Information-based argumentation

Information-based argumentation aims to model the partner's reasoning apparatus to the extent that an agent can work with it to achieve outcomes that are mutually satisfactory and lay the foundation for continued interaction and perhaps lasting business relationships. Information-based agents take observations at face value, qualify them with a belief probability and build models solely on the basis of messages received. Using augmentative dialogue that describes what is good or bad about proposals, these agents observe such statements and aim to model the way their partners react, and then to generate dialogue that works in harmony with their partner's reasoning. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

An agent supports constructivist and ecological rationality

An agent architecture supports the two forms of deliberation used by human agents. The work is founded on the two forms of rationality described by the two Nobel Laureates Friedrich Hayek and Vernon Smith. Cartesian, constructivist rationalism leads to game theory, decision theory and logical models. Ecological rationalism leads to deliberative actions that are derived from agents' prior interactions and are not designed; i.e., they are strictly emergent. This paper aims to address the scant attention paid by the multiagent systems community to the predominant form of deliberation used by mankind. © 2009 IEEE