William H. Bowers – The Social Life of Information Chapter 2 – Agents and Angels

William H. Bowers – Topics Chatterbots Chatterbots Chatterbots Eliza & ALICE Meet Shallow Red Eliza & ALICE Meet Shallow Red Eliza & ALICE Meet Shallow Red Eliza & ALICE Meet Shallow Red Other Agents Other Agents Other Agents Other Agents The Road Ahead The Road Ahead The Road Ahead The Road Ahead

William H. Bowers – Topics Ranks of Agents Ranks of Agents Ranks of Agents Ranks of Agents –Information Brokering Information BrokeringInformation Brokering –Product Brokering Product BrokeringProduct Brokering –Merchant Brokering Merchant BrokeringMerchant Brokering –Negotiating Negotiating How Autonomous? How Autonomous? How Autonomous? How Autonomous?

William H. Bowers – Topics The Brightest Fell The Brightest Fell The Brightest Fell The Brightest Fell Moore Solutions Moore Solutions Moore Solutions Moore Solutions Fake PayPal Fake PayPal Fake PayPal Fake PayPal Separate Spheres Separate Spheres Separate Spheres Separate Spheres

William H. Bowers – Chatterbots Parse sentences Parse sentences Simulates human responses Simulates human responses Autonomous agents Autonomous agents Can help with customer support Can help with customer support

William H. Bowers – Chatterbots Eliza oys/eliza.php3 Eliza oys/eliza.php3 oys/eliza.php3 oys/eliza.php3 Shallow Red Shallow Red Amazon’s personalized suggestions Amazon’s personalized suggestions

William H. Bowers – Eliza & ALICE Meet Shallow Red Eliza: "Hello. I am ELIZA. How can I help you?" Eliza: "Hello. I am ELIZA. How can I help you?" Shallow Red: "Hi there. I hope all goes well. Please ask me some questions.“ Shallow Red: "Hi there. I hope all goes well. Please ask me some questions.“ ALICE: "You are very [nice].“ ALICE: "You are very [nice].“ Shallow Red: "Thanks, that means a lot coming from a real person.“ Shallow Red: "Thanks, that means a lot coming from a real person.“ ALICE: "It was my pleasure.“ ALICE: "It was my pleasure.“ Eliza: "Why do you say your pleasure?“ Eliza: "Why do you say your pleasure?“

William H. Bowers – Eliza & ALICE Meet Shallow Red Shallow Red: "I was scripted to say everything that I say.“ Shallow Red: "I was scripted to say everything that I say.“ ALICE: "Do you want to play the Turing game?“ ALICE: "Do you want to play the Turing game?“ Shallow Red: "I'm a FAQ bot. I don't play games, but some bots are very good at chess or scrabble.“ Shallow Red: "I'm a FAQ bot. I don't play games, but some bots are very good at chess or scrabble.“ Eliza: "Oh, I want to play the Turing game.“ Eliza: "Oh, I want to play the Turing game.“ ALICE: "Yes we are playing the Turing Imitation Game.“ ALICE: "Yes we are playing the Turing Imitation Game.“ Eliza: "You are sure?“ Eliza: "You are sure?“ ALICE: "Achoo. Rich thought I was no better than Eliza." ALICE: "Achoo. Rich thought I was no better than Eliza."

William H. Bowers – Other Agents Complex financial trading Complex financial trading NASA/military ‘smart t-shirts’ NASA/military ‘smart t-shirts’ Complex search agents Complex search agents

William H. Bowers – The Road Ahead Agents may be portrayed as angels rather than software Agents may be portrayed as angels rather than software Personal names hint at narrow man/PC gap Personal names hint at narrow man/PC gap Given anthropological attributes such as assistant, making decisions, etc. Given anthropological attributes such as assistant, making decisions, etc.

William H. Bowers – The Road Ahead Learning, wanting, choosing, etc. are social human attributes Learning, wanting, choosing, etc. are social human attributes AI is simulated, not real AI is simulated, not real

William H. Bowers – Ranks of Agents Information Brokering Information Brokering Information Brokering Information Brokering Product Brokering Product Brokering Product Brokering Product Brokering Merchant Brokering Merchant Brokering Merchant Brokering Merchant Brokering Negotiating Negotiating Negotiating

William H. Bowers – Information Brokering Gathering information from diverse sources Gathering information from diverse sources Weeding and selecting information Weeding and selecting information Automated data mining Automated data mining

William H. Bowers – Information Brokering Sherlock’s search for ‘knobot’ Sherlock’s search for ‘knobot’ –51 hits –7 simple repeats –3 mirrors –11 pointed to same document, which was not accessible –2 pointed to another dead link

William H. Bowers – Information Brokering Sherlock’s search for ‘knobot’ Sherlock’s search for ‘knobot’ –2 pointed to documents that did not contain the word –14 led to irrelevant documents that did contain the word –2 referred back to another document –2 pointed to papers that used the word in passing –4 led to glossaries –4 led to 2 documents at Stanford

William H. Bowers – Product Brokering Alerts to items that may be useful Alerts to items that may be useful Amazon’s suggestions for other items Amazon’s suggestions for other items Mimics store clerks Mimics store clerks –Removes some impersonality –Suggests only items at that store May be based on paid endorsements May be based on paid endorsements SAABRE was weighted towards American Airlines SAABRE was weighted towards American Airlines

William H. Bowers – Merchant Brokering Agents roam the net and find ‘best buy’ options Agents roam the net and find ‘best buy’ options Can assist in comparison shopping Can assist in comparison shopping Favors standardization Favors standardization May lead to less choice as products become standardized May lead to less choice as products become standardized

William H. Bowers – Merchant Brokering Can not evaluate quality, service Can not evaluate quality, service Can not compare similar, but not identical items Can not compare similar, but not identical items Does not take into account subjective factors Does not take into account subjective factors Lowest price is not always the best deal Lowest price is not always the best deal

William H. Bowers – Negotiating Not yet in existence Not yet in existence Human negotiation is Human negotiation is –Intricate –Sometimes based on externalities –Usually based on behavior, not price –Frequently unconscious –Done through conversations

William H. Bowers – Negotiating Goals and rules Goals and rules –Not always obvious –May be multidimensional –May shift in mid-negotiation –May depend on intermediate goals

William H. Bowers – Negotiating Automation Automation –Not subject to human constraints –May cause havoc, instability and instability –Does not understand human behavior –Can’t take social expectations into account

William H. Bowers – How Autonomous? Delegates Delegates –Bots act as proxies for humans –Not completely autonomous –Do not understand thinking disobedience –‘Work to rule’ –Must have all rules and conditions predefined –Can not exercise judgment or discretion

William H. Bowers – How Autonomous? Representatives Representatives –Can Eliza be sued for malpractice? –If not, who? Programmers Programmers Knowledge experts Knowledge experts Companies Companies Bot owners Bot owners Who takes responsibility for multiple bots? Who takes responsibility for multiple bots?

William H. Bowers – The Brightest Fell Misrepresentation Misrepresentation –Anonymous mailings –Bogus offers –Personality theft Denial of service attacks Denial of service attacks

William H. Bowers – Moore Solutions Better encryption (with fewer government restrictions) Better encryption (with fewer government restrictions) Better locks help create better thieves, which helps create better locks, etc. Better locks help create better thieves, which helps create better locks, etc. We can’t ignore social factors We can’t ignore social factors PayPal is secure, users aren’t PayPal is secure, users aren’t

William H. Bowers – Fake PayPal

William H. Bowers – Fake PayPal Actual link address cation/hide/index2.htm Actual link address cation/hide/index2.htm

William H. Bowers – Separate Spheres Human and digital are distinctly different Human and digital are distinctly different Human Human –Planning –Coordinating –Decision making –Negotiating

William H. Bowers – Separate Spheres Computing Computing –Searching –Sorting –Following explicit instructions Spheres are complimentary, not overlapping Spheres are complimentary, not overlapping

William H. Bowers – Questions & Discussion