Ants don't have Friends- Thoughts on Socially Intelligent Agents

The question ’what is an agent?’ has been under discussion for many years. However, a consensus exists that the term ’agent’ only makes sense in a mulli-agen~ context, namely if there are at least two agents, and assuming interaction and/or communication between the agents. Agent research is generally done fairly independently in different research areas, separated by the nature of the agents (natural or artificial). This paper presents some thoughts on agency and sociality. Social intelligence is studied in the context of humanstyle forms of social behaviour. Issues like embodiment, believability, rationality, social understanding, and different levels of social organisation and control are discussed.