On integrating Theory of Mind in context-aware negotiation agents

Abstract

Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability of an agent to represent mental states of other agents including their intentions, desires, goals, models, beliefs, how the environment makes an impact on those beliefs, and the beliefs those agents may have about the beliefs others have about themselves. Integrating arti cial ToM in automated negotiations can provide software agents a key competitive advantage. In this work, we propose integrating ToM into context-aware negotiation agents using Bayesian inference to update each agent's beliefs. Beliefs are about the necessity and risk of the opponent considering hypothesis about how it takes into account contextual variables. A systematic hierarchical approach to combine ToM with using evidence from the opponent actions in an unfolding negotiation episode is proposed. Alternative contextual scenarios are used to argue in favor of incorporating di erent levels of reasoning and modeling the strategic behavior of an opponent.