AGENT SOCIETIES
Single  Multiple Agents
sensors
percepts
?
environment
actions
effectors
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
agent
Communication



Channel
Language
Protocol
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Communication
• communicate - “to make common”
• communicative action = “a social action oriented to reaching
understanding” (Habermas)
 understanding includes consensus!
• communication as a means for negotiation (Sycara)
DA
Agent A
DB
consistent
design
goals
Agent C
DC
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Agent B
Observer
Common ground for situated communication
Common ground = the presuppositions that are taken for granted by
an agent to be the shared background of the participants in the
conversation
• established & increased through current and previous
communication
• Common ground
a notion subjective to the agent,
grounded in its experience
a social notion connecting the
individually grounded experience to
the other participant(s) (different
participant(s) => different common
ground)
• Common ground is a means to adapt communication to the
specific agent (addressee & speaker)
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Common ground: A key for agent-based modelling
• Common ground supports the generation of
representations (messages) for a specific purpose (specific
agent with specific knowledge/capabilities)
• Common ground thus makes communication more
efficient than using static object schemas
• The concept of common ground can be embodied by
situated design agents
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Society
What is needed to form a society?
 Common communication
 Common values
 Common expectations
 Influence
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Group impact

Individual agency has an entirely different group
impact according to the particular global
structures at the time of the action
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Group impact
–cont.
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Group impact
–cont.
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Group impact
–cont.
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Group impact
–cont.
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Forming societies
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John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Quick Time™ and a Graphics decompress or are needed to see this picture.
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Self-organisation: Example
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Self-organisation: Example
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Self-organisation: Example
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Self-organisation: Example
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Self-organisation: Example
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Self-organisation: Example
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Social reasoning
• Agents construct a design state space (D) relating to the whole
design
DA
DB
abc
ab bc
a b c
abc
DC
abc
ab bc
Agent A (“shaft
a b c
agent”)
(expert in shafts (a)) Agent C (“bearing
agent”)
(expert in bearings (c))
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
ab bc
a b c
Agent B (“gear
agent”)
(expert in gears (b))
Curious art evolver
Evolutionary
System
Evolved
images
stm
Image
selections
x
X
c
bitmap
images, edge
detected
images
image
categories
S
E
S
s
S
a
P
stm stm
c
STM
stm stm
x
c
LTM
E
Selection
commands
A
p
C
E
c
m
m
LTM
a
x
i
X
I
c N
x
m
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
m
n
novelty,
interest and
learning goals
Modelling Interest
Reward
HEDONIC VALUE
1
Hx
0 n1
n2
Nx
NOVELTY
-1
Punish
Berlyne’s model of arousal based on novelty using Wundt curve
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
(interactive Genetic Art III)
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Different novelty preferences
N=0
N=1
N=2
N=3
N=4
N=5
N=6
N=7
N=8
N=9
N=10
N=11
N=12
N=13
N=14
N=15
N=16
N=17
N=18
N=19
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
Emergent society of creative agents




Situated Creative Designing
 Design agents send “artworks” that they find
interesting to other agents.
 If other design agents find the artwork interesting they
send back a an expression of interest.
 To be considered creative, design agents have to
innovate in ways that other design agents can
appreciate.
 Design agents that develop the same interests in the
space of possibilities form emergent “cliques”.
John S Gero Agents – Agent Societies
(after Saunders and Gero)