------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B O S T O N U N I V E R S I T Y Computer Science Department C O L L O Q U I U M Wednesday, October 2, 1996 3:00 pm (Coffee served at 2:30 pm, Room MCS 137) Room MCS 149 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOFTWARE AGENTS Dr. Pattie Maes MIT Media Laboratory Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 02139 Abstract Software agents represent a new type of software which distinguishes itself in that the software is personalized, proactive, autonomous and adaptive. Agent technology is currently employed as a way to assist users with a variety of tasks typically supported in inefficient ways, including guiding users through large information spaces; providing personalized critics and information filters; acting as reminders and memory extenders; acting on behalf of the user as automated buyers and sellers and matchmakers between users with similar interests. This talk will present the philosophy underlying our approach and discuss the results obtained. Bio Pattie Maes is an Associate Professor at the MIT Media Laboratory. She received her PhD in Computer Science from the University of Brussels in Belgium in 1987. In 1989 she came to the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory to work with Marvin Minsky and Rodney Brooks on intelligent agents and their applications in mobile robots. In 1991 she joined the MIT Media Laboratory, under direction of Nicholas Negroponte, where she started thinking about how her work on intelligent agents could be applied to the problem of Human-Computer Interaction. In particular, her own frustration with hours of wasted time dealing with electronic mail, trying to find information on electronic bulletin boards or the WWW and scheduling meetings, motivated her to build computerized personal assistants that help a user with daily tasks and activities. Her vision is to replace the current style of Human-Computer Interaction --- which requires people to be computer-literate and take all initiative themselves --- in favor of a new style in which the user delegates to agents that can take initiative, can act on behalf of the user and provide personalized assistance. Pattie Maes has authored several publications about intelligent agents and has published three books. She is a founder and director of Firefly Network, Inc. of Cambridge, MA, one of the first companies to commercialize software agent technology. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For colloquium info, including directions, see http://www.cs.bu.edu/colloquium For more information contact Prof. David Yates -------------------------------------------------------------------------------