Commitment and Argument Network: A New Formalism for Agent Communication

This paper proposes a formal framework which offers an external representation of conversations between conversational agents. Using this formalism allows us: (1) to represent the dynamics of conversations between agents; (2) to analyze conversations; (3) to help autonomous agents to take part in consistent conversations. The proposed formalism, called ”commitment and argument network”, uses a combined approach based on commitments and arguments. Commitments are used to capture the social and the public aspect of conversations. Arguments on the other side are used to capture the reasoning aspect. We also propose a layered communication model in which the formalism and the approach take place.

[1]  Mehdi Dastani,et al.  Negotiation protocols and dialogue games , 2001, AGENTS '01.

[2]  John F. Sowa,et al.  Conceptual Structures: Information Processing in Mind and Machine , 1983 .

[3]  Cristiano Castelfranchi,et al.  Commitments: From Individual Intentions to Groups and Organizations , 1995, ICMAS.

[4]  Jim D. Mackenzie,et al.  Question-begging in non-cumulative systems , 1979, J. Philos. Log..

[5]  Brahim Chaib-draa,et al.  Trends in Agent Communication Language , 2002, Comput. Intell..

[6]  Marco Colombetti,et al.  A commitment-based approach to agent speech acts and conversations , 2000 .

[7]  D. Walton,et al.  Commitment in Dialogue: Basic Concepts of Interpersonal Reasoning , 1995 .

[8]  Marco Colombetti,et al.  A logical model of social commitment for agent communication , 2003, AAMAS '03.

[9]  Gerard Vreeswijk,et al.  Abstract Argumentation Systems , 1997, Artif. Intell..

[10]  Munindar P. Singh,et al.  Nonmonotonic Commitment Machines , 2003, Workshop on Agent Communication Languages.

[11]  Jacques Ferber,et al.  Les Systèmes multi-agents: vers une intelligence collective , 1995 .

[12]  Chengqi Zhang,et al.  Proceedings of the Workshops on Commonsense Reasoning, Intelligent Agents, and Distributed Artificial Intelligence: Agents and Multi-Agent Systems Formalisms, Methodologies, and Applications , 1997 .

[13]  Munindar P. Singh,et al.  Resolving Commitments among Autonomous Agents , 2003, Workshop on Agent Communication Languages.

[14]  Brahim Chaib-draa,et al.  An Exploration in Using Cognitive Coherence Theory to Automate BDI Agents' Communicational Behavior , 2003, Workshop on Agent Communication Languages.

[15]  Phan Minh Dung,et al.  On the Acceptability of Arguments and its Fundamental Role in Nonmonotonic Reasoning, Logic Programming and n-Person Games , 1995, Artif. Intell..

[16]  Marco Colombetti,et al.  Protocol Specification Using a Commitment Based ACL , 2003, Workshop on Agent Communication Languages.

[17]  Simon Parsons,et al.  Modelling dialogues using argumentation , 2000, Proceedings Fourth International Conference on MultiAgent Systems.

[18]  Arnold Gunther,et al.  Some Ways of Representing Dialogues , 1984 .

[19]  Timothy W. Finin,et al.  Semantics and Conversations for an Agent Communication Language , 1997, IJCAI.

[20]  Frank Dignum,et al.  Issues in Agent Communication: An Introduction , 2000, Issues in Agent Communication.

[21]  Timothy W. Finin,et al.  Semantics for an Agent Communication Language , 1997, ATAL.

[22]  Guy Lapalme,et al.  Interpreting communicative acts and building a conversation model , 1996, Natural Language Engineering.

[23]  Michael Wooldridge,et al.  Desiderata for agent argumentation protocols , 2002, AAMAS '02.

[24]  Bernard Moulin,et al.  The Social Dimension of Interactions in Multiagent Systems , 1997, Agents and Multi-Agent Systems Formalisms, Methodologies, and Applications.

[25]  Munindar P. Singh.  A Social Semantics for Agent Communication Languages , 2000, Issues in Agent Communication.

[26]  C. Raymond Perrault,et al.  Elements of a Plan-Based Theory of Speech Acts , 1979, Cogn. Sci..

[27]  Munindar P. Singh.  Agent Communication Languages: Rethinking the Principles , 2003, Communication in Multiagent Systems.

[28]  Marco Colombetti,et al.  Operational specification of a commitment-based agent communication language , 2002, AAMAS '02.

[29]  Paul J. Krause,et al.  Dialectic reasoning with inconsistent information , 1993, UAI.

[30]  John R. Searle,et al.  Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language , 1970 .

[31]  Brahim Chaib-draa,et al.  Commitment-based and dialogue-game-based protocols: new trends in agent communication languages , 2002, The Knowledge Engineering Review.

[32]  Michael Wooldridge,et al.  An analysis of formal inter-agent dialogues , 2002, AAMAS '02.

[33]  Maurice Pagnucco,et al.  Agents and Multi-Agent Systems Formalisms, Methodologies, and Applications , 1997, Lecture Notes in Computer Science.

[34]  Simon Parsons,et al.  An argumentation-based Semantics for Agent Communication Languages , 2002, ECAI.

[35]  S. Toulmin.  The uses of argument , 1960 .