Abstract

Abstract 2 Most autonomous agents are situated in a social context and need to interact with other agents (both human and artificial) to complete their problem solving objectives. Such agents are usually capable of performing a wide range of actions and engaging in a variety of social interactions. Faced with this variety of options, an agent must decide what to do. There are many potential decision making functions that could be employed to make the choice. Each such function will have a different effect on the success of the individual agent and of the overall system in which it is situated. To this end, this thesis examines agents ’ decision making functions to ascertain their likely properties and attributes. A novel framework for characterising social decision making is presented which provides explicit reasoning about the potential benefits of the individual agent, particular sub-groups of agents or the overall system. This framework enables multi-farious social interaction attitudes to be identified and defined; ranging from the purely self-interested to the purely altruistic. In particular, however, the focus is on the spectrum of socially responsible agent behaviours in which agents attempt to balance their own needs with those of the overall system. Such behaviour aims to ensure that both the agent and the overall system perform well.

Citations