Intelligent Agents: Applications

1. Intelligent Agents: Applications MgSc 497 Chapter 19 4-22-98

2. Intelligent Agents: Some Definitions • computer program which helps humans with routine computer tasks • advanced AI programs that function in specific environments to complete tasks • persistent software entity dedicated to a specific purpose • computational systems which inhabit an environment and sense and act autonomously in this environment

3. Intelligent Agents: “Softbots” • intelligent software robots--concept grew out of robotics • moving from the simulated, symbolic changes in artificial environments to the complexities of interacting with the physical world • software architecture which integrated reactions to the world with goal-based planning

4. Software Agents • grew out of a desire to develop smaller and more self-reliant code • programs running separately from the host environment, moving across networks to deliver information • JAVA and ActiveX are programming languages in which software could be developed in one place and ported to another

5. What Kind of Agents Exist in AI? • physical agents (robots) are located in places where humans find it difficult to go • outer space, depths of the ocean, hazardous situations • information agents travel the network or interactive cyberspace worlds

6. What is an Autonomous Intelligent Agent? • Capable of acting on its own on the behalf of the user in pursuit of an agenda • will it pass the Turing test? • is it software or something else? • is it just a Web agent?

7. Components of an Agent • owner • user name, process name, master agent name • author • development owner, person or process • account • point of origin for the agent

8. Components of an Agent • goal • clear statement of successful task completion for the agent • subject description • details of the goal’s attributes • creation and duration • background • intelligent system

9. Simple vs. Intelligent Agents • a simple agent is given a task to complete and all the rules it needs to complete the task • an intelligent agent has the added capability of learning and the ability to exhibit autonomy (i.e., can take independent action)

10. Internet-based Software Agents • simple e-mail agents • web-browing assistants • ex: Letizia • FAQ agents • intelligent search agents (metasearch engines, spiders, crawlers) • network management and monitoring • e-commerce agents

11. Characteristics of Intelligent Agents: Autonomy • goal-oriented • accepts high level requests from humans and decides how and when to fill the request • collaborative • can modify requests, clarify requests or even refuse requests • flexible • modifies behavior when it encounters obstacles and in response to its environment • self-starting • can start in respsonse to a change in environment

12. Characteristics of Intelligent Agents • operates in the background • designed to accomplish a single task • communication with other agents • automates repetitive tasks • supports conditional processing • capable of learning

13. Characteristics of Intelligent Agents: • reactive to changes in environment • proactiveness • temporal continuity (running continuously) • personality (realistic human interface) • mobility (can transport itself across systems) Sounds like the perfect assistant!

14. Intelligent Agents: Applications • air traffic control • air craft mission analysis • control of telecommunications and network systems • transactions management in banks and insurance companies • supervision and control of manufacturing environments

15. Intelligent Agents: Applications • provision and monitoring of medical care • monitoring and control of industrial processes • on-line fault diagnosis and malfunction handling

16. Intelligent Agents: Proposed Capabilities • reasoning and learning • sensors • interfacing with humans • inter-agent communication

17. DARPA’s Intelligent Integration of Information Program • provide easy access to information in a form needed by end users and high level applications • intelligently reviewing, filtering, extracting, integrating, and abstracting information from the growing volume of data • this data is dynamically changing, inconsistent, incomplete, difficult to search

18. DARPA’s Intelligent Integration of Information Program (I*3) • data sources include knowledge bases, databases of all kinds, Web documents, text documents, graphics, videos, images • layer of information integration to buffer the user from this data • describes the content, format, location, and semantic meaning of the data

19. DARPA’s Intelligent Integration of Information Program • visit the site: http://dc.isx.com/I3/

20. I*3 Applications • air campaign planning tool • reduces planning time from 48 hours to 10 minutes • advanced logistics program • for moving resources in an efficient manner • battlefield awareness • engineering design

21. Other Agent Projects • Stanford’s ABE (Agent-Based Engineering Group) • how agent-based software can be applied to engineering • design documentation, CAD applications • Lockheed Cosmos System • Madefast • collaborative design

22. JAVA Agent Template • fully functional template, written in JAVA • used for constructing software agents which have a peer-to-peer network of other agents distributed over the Internet • JAT agents have a static existence, living on one host, but they can immigrate • agents use KQML (Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language)

23. JAVA Agent Template • can be executed as standalone applications • as applets using appletviewers • will not work with Netscape Navigator

24. Other Agent Projects • Andersen Consulting, IBM, Lockheed • http://bf.cstar.ac.com/bf/ • http://www.agents-inc.com/ • http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/glinden/TravelSoftBot/ • ATAInstructions.html

25. Other Agent Projects • intelligent browsers • tracks user browser patterns and suggest shortcuts • IBM Web Browsing Intelligence • checks favorite pages and updates as needed • LiveAgent • lets users record their mouseclicks and keystrokes as they navigate the Web • the recording becomes an agent

26. Other Agent Projects • Firefly • intelligent music recommendation service • ShopBot

27. Distributed Intelligent Agents • interface agents are single agents with simple knowledge and problem solving capabilities who perform information filtering and retrieval • softbots perform a wide range of user-delegated information finding tasks • mulitagent systems offer another alternative to access, filter, and integrate information • extends the concept of agent

28. Distributed Intelligent Agents • an agent’s user could be human or another agent • agents must be able to communicate with each other • open society of reusable agents who self-organize and cooperate in response to task requirements

29. Distributed Intelligent Agents: Architecture • planning module uses goals and produces a plan that satisfies the goals • uses a hierarchical planning method • communication and coordination modules accepts and interprets messages from other agents • e-mail is often used for communication • event notification services

30. Distributed Intelligent Agents: Architecture • scheduling module schedules each of the plan steps • a variety of scheduling heuristics can be used • execution monitoring process handles agent reactivity considerations • when an actions fails, an exception-handling process takes over • ex: another agent doesn’t respond

31. Distributed Intelligent Agents: Architecture • belief and facts data structures contain facts and knowledge • ex: user profile • ex: an information agent is monitoring the Security APL Quote Server to watch the prices o IBM stock • it will periodically compare the price to a given threshold at which it believes the user wants to sell

32. Distributed Intelligent Agents: Applications • organizational decision-making • e-mail filtering • calendar management • filtering news • more complex tasks • distributed, collaborative meeting schedules • finding information on the Internet • distributing relevant announcements about software, grants, etc.

33. Distributed Intelligent Agents: Applications • financial portfolio management • multiple sources of information • multiple sources of expertise • user profile, status of user portfolio

34. Portfolio Management Agent Earnings Analyst Agent Economic Indicator Tracker Ticker Tracker Market Tracker SEC Filings Tracker

35. Distributed Intelligent Agents: Applications • one more application: energy management in Spain • Iberdrola, electric utility • transport network contains 25,000 data points • 296 lines, 294 transformers, 939 breakers

36. Distributed Intelligent Agents: Applications • seven hetereogeneous agents on five different machines for an alarm-analysis expert system with service restoration • heterogeneous nature of the electrical network lent itself to distributed agent architecture • management of the network becomes much more complex during emergencies

37. Distributed Intelligent Agents: Applications • agent 1: breakers and relays supervisor • agent 2: alarms analysis agent • agent 3: blackout area identifier • agent 4: service restoration • agent 5: user interface • agents 6 and 7: control system interface

38. More on Agents • http://aif.wu-wien.ac.at/usr/geyers/archive/iagents/vo/u1/unit/unit.html • http://lcs.www.media.mit.edu/groups/agents/ • http://lcs.www.media.mit.edu/groups/agents/projects/ • http://trafficopter.www.media.mit.edu/projects/trafficopter/ • http://www.csee.umbc.edu/agents/

39. Managerial Issues • cost justification • security • privacy • industrial intelligence and ethics • agent learning • agent accuracy and liability