Difference Between MAS and an AI?

[Sciron offline]

I'm not sure whether this belongs in CL Discussion because of its relevance to CL, or whether it belongs here because it doesn't directly relate to CL and because it's more tech-ish.

And yes, I've used Google, and I haven't been able to turn up anything good or helpful.

So, what IS the difference between a multi-agent system and an artificial intelligence?

Here's what I have so far, but I'm still trying to make sure I have the right thing down:

An artificial intelligence is a manmade entity that has the ability to learn for itself, while a multi-agent system is a type of AI that is generally more user-based and user-controlled.

PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong, because I really want to know.

[Tangent128 offline]

I'll take a crack:

-An AI is a program that attempts to solve problems without human instruction in order to achieve its (likely human-set) goals.

-A Multi Agent System is a system that uses multiple independent entities working cooperatively toward a goal.

XANA is both- each unit (presumably monsters, maybe also Replika computers) is independent, but together they devise new attack plans and such. A MAS alone would use a limited set of pre-programmed strategies. (Though emergent group behavior might make it look more elaborate.) An AI alone would have only one non-remote-controlled unit.

The Marabounta & Deus Ex Machina (any better name for it?) were definately MASes. Whether they were AIs is debatable; they didn't need to be, in any case- they just needed programming along the lines of:

Code: Select all

BEGIN
     FOR RANDOM target IN get_possible_targets() WHERE matches_XANA(target)
          attack(target)
          replicate()
     IF no_XANAfied_targets()
          move_on(random_direction())
REPEAT


The details would be simple enough to express mathematically- no need for AI.

Strong Wikis are also multi-agent systems, but with humans as the agents.

[FènéethxAelita offline]

Maybe the monsters were originally only agants of XANA, ( the master agent), but the master agent may have developed the monsters into AI, which would explain the team tactics. This would take a lot of work, but XANA acted inconsistantly with varying intelligence suggesting he was preoccupied at times, which isn't be a good idea to do it during an attack.