Some Issues on Agent Ownership

1
Some Issues on Agent Ownership

• Alexander Yip
• Jim Cunningham
• Imperial College, London
• LEA Workshop
• 13 July 2002

2
Agenda

• What is Agent Ownership?
• Scenarios
• Multi-Agent Service Systems
• Trustworthy Information Agents
• Agents for hire
• FIPA and Agent Ownership
• Conclusion

3
What is Agent Ownership?

• Agents as intellectual property
• What is owned?
• Agent, Agent user and Agent developer
• Business agent
• The liability of an Agent

4
Multi-Agent Service Systems
Company X
?
Johnnys Agent
5
Trustworthy Information Agents
National Prestige Airways
Johnnys Agent
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow Airways
6
Agents for hire
EZ Finance
7
FIPA and Agent Ownership

• Two optional Ownership ontology fields
• No established actions
• No standardised approach to Human/Agent
  interaction
• What we need
• A standard ontology for ownership
• Standard actions/protocols to address the
  ownership issues
• Standard interfaces between agent and human
  worlds

8
Conclusion

• Agents are becoming part of our daily life, it is
  necessary to address the legal ownership issues
• Agent standards will need to be established and
  be enforced
• Treating an Agent as property that can be owned
  addresses the legal issues head-on

9
Questions?
?
Alexander Yip ay1_at_doc.ic.ac.uk
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