TAC in the news again

Finding something smart on the web is about to get easier

       The field of artificial intelligence is slowly but steadily yielding a flow of new products and technologies with commercial applications.
      Some promising new software programs offer artificial intelligence "trading agents" or "shopping agents" that can navigate the Web autonomously while you jog or sleep, scanning e-commerce sites and online auctions to find you the best deals.
       Most such computer programs that do your shopping or plan your vacations are not yet available for consumer use. They are still being perfected by researchers from universities and the private sector. But their introduction is not far off, as evidenced by last week's second annual Trading Agents Competition (TAC-01) in Tampa, FL.
   Participants ranged from the AT&T Research Labs to Cornell University to the Swedish Institute for Computer Science. Their shopping agents were charged with building a five-day travel and entertainment package for imaginary clients, seeking to react and capitalize on simulated internet market changes to purchase flights, hotel rooms and tickets to events.
"They had to watch the market, try to anticipate what the competition was doing, and try to make the best deals", said the automated trading agents expert Michael Wellman, professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Michigan's College of Engineering created the playing field and the Michigan Internet Auction Box platform for the competition.
This year's winner: Living Systems AG, a German software company that is seeking to commercialize its Livingagents software. Coming soon to a personal computer near you.