Collaborating software: Blackboard and multi-agent systems & the future

For the past quarter century, AI researchers have used the paradigm of collaborating software systems to tackle large and difficult problems. Blackboard systems were the first attempt at integrating ”cooperating” software modules. The goal was to achieve the flexible, brainstorming style of problem solving exhibited by a group of diverse human experts working together to address problems that no single expert could solve alone. Multi-agent systems research is revisiting the collaborating-software paradigm from an agent-centric orientation. Again the goal is to achieve effective collaboration with a group of independent software entities, but in a way that appears to be markedly different from the approach taken in blackboard systems. In this paper, I compare and contrast these two approaches. Examining collaborating software from both perspectives provides insights into the nature of collaboration, reveals unresolved problems in integrating disparate contributions, and underscores issues in coordinating collaborative activities.

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