Adjustable Autonomy Challenges in Personal Assistant Agents: A Position Paper

The successful integration and acceptance of many multi-agent systems into daily lives crucially depends on the ability to develop effective policies for adjustable autonomy. Adjustable autonomy encompasses the strategies by which an agent selects the appropriate entity (itself, a human user, or another agent) to make a decision at key moments when an action is required. We present two formulations that address this issue: user-based and agent-based autonomy. Furthermore, we discuss the current and future implications on systems composed of personal assistant agents, where autonomy issues are of vital interest.