Intelligent Software Agents: Are We Ready?

Anti-Luddite writes: The birth of the next Web is partially dependent on Intelligent Software Agents (ISAs), or software agents that use Artificial Intelligence to find, analyze, and organize information on behalf of clients. In this article, analyst Tom Nolle discusses the potential for some ISAs to emerge in the next wave of the Web, and he points to others, such as "search assistant ISAs," which will inevitably flop before their potential is realized. He speaks favorably of the "mobile ISA" which he says, "involves dispatching mobile agents from one computer and delivering them to a remote computer for execution." While hailing the potential of this new generation of agent technology, Nolle seems skeptical about our ability to prepare for and handle its emergence, particularly because of flaws in the agent research community.