DELEGATING TO SOFTWARE AGENTS

There is currently a great deal of interest in the development of inte lligent agents. While there is little agreement on exactly what consti tutes an intelligent agent, many definitions embody a user-interface m odel that differs from the traditional one where users perform tasks w ith the help of computer-based ''tools''. In contrast, the ''delegatio n'' model associated with agents is based on entrusting tasks to an au tonomous, sometimes anthropomorphized system, whose performance is mon itored and evaluated. This change in user-interface model is a dramati c one since delegation can be a difficult and often-avoided behavior i n humans. Agent-interface designs need to overcome well-established dr awbacks in delegation. For this purpose, designers should find the man agement sciences and organizational psychology literatures to be as re levant as that of traditional human factors. This paper describes issu es regarding task delegation as they pertain to the design of intellig ent-agent-user interfaces. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.