News Computer 'Agents' soon to be unleashed...

[Bugz]

BBC NEWS | Technology | Computer 'agents' take to the web

Fascinating to be honest & the perfect way to make use of both AI & a medium which can connect people anywhere & anytime.

 

[old.Tohtori]

And then we wait for someone to exploit these agents as they notice a glitch, and make a buyer pay tens of thousands for a jelly bean with no legal way of getting that money back

 

[Raven]

It sounds like it finds the deal, not purchase it for you. Only a complete moron would let it do the entire deal for them.

 

[ECA]

It won't work because it's fucking retarded.

 

[TdC]

what ECA said tbh. I smell mad fails.

 

[old.Tohtori]

It sounds like it finds the deal, not purchase it for you. Only a complete moron would let it do the entire deal for them.

Not at first, but in the future of such endeavour, it would buy it for you with pre-set boundaries.

Then come the scammers.

Then they cry 'cause they can't even wipe their asses themselves anymore.

 

[tris-]

I cannot see any point in this thing.

 

[Bugz]

I think people are reading into it differently than me or are not opening their minds enough.

I see it as a way for two parties to haggle and bargain on prices to find a price suitable for both parties. It's a process that isn't used in stores because of a) time, b) the cost-to-benefit ratio won't be great, c) fixed prices blah blah blah. But it may now bring about a change in the way we price stuff and the way we approach prices The agent can cater to individual needs and factor in all of the fluctuating 'products' of pricing.

So if Supplier A has more supply than he wants, the agent can sell a certain amount at a small price than reinstate a higher price for the supply.

What Toht said about scams doesn't ring true for me. It's the same idea as me reducing an item in the shop because it's best before date is today. I'm not TELLING you to buy that product, i'm inviting you to consider it more to your personal preferences because the price has changed. An Agent won't be authorising the sale, it will be taking that sale to it's final boundary, so just like the cashier scans the reduced item, the checkout service will record the item you want.

If this is successful it could pave the way for fluctuating prices and more convenient shopping for everyone.

 

[Chilly]

negotiation is hard at the best of times, and that's for a human. I fail to see how a software agent based on a library of rules (heuristics is a posh name for generic rulesets) can be as effective as a good human negotiator. In fact I'm totally convinced it couldnt be. This just seems like a sales protocol to me. If blsh blah then price = x else price =x*0.80. To get the best deals you need to really squeeze the other guys nipple.