| Sumario: | Autonomous agents—computer programs that can perform human-like tasks without requiring a person to help them—would appear to be the embodiment of good technology. At present, the majority of such agents live on the Internet and are geared to assisting people to use it. These autonomous agents usually follow one of two different approaches. The first approach employs prescribed rules, which may adapt to altering circumstances, to determine the behavior of the agent. The second approach uses “collaborative filtering,” a touchy-feely technique that formulates its rules as it goes along. An examination both of these approaches and their applications is provided, and an investigation of the contribution that artificial intelligence researchers have made to the development of autonomous agents is presented.
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