North of the negotiation between a person and a computerized agent

A research grant of 100 euros from the European Union was awarded to Dr. Kobi Gal from the Department of Information Systems Engineering at Ben-Gurion University

Dr. Kobi Gal from the Department of Information Systems Engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev won a Marie Curie research grant from the European Union to aid the absorption of returning scientists. The amount of the grant is one hundred thousand euros for 4 years.

The winning research deals with computerized agents making decisions with humans. A computerized agent is a term in artificial intelligence to describe a "thinking program" implemented within a computer, robot, phone or any other electronic system. The research focuses on the negotiation between a human and a computerized agent. While humans have been using negotiation as a mediating tool for a long time (in diplomacy, personal relationships and recently also in e-commerce), it is very difficult for computers to learn the motivations that influence negotiations between people. For example, people know how to reveal information that is unknown to the other party at the beginning of the negotiation and is there to help reach an agreement, but they will not reveal all the information they have in order to prevent the other party from using this information against them. In addition, cultural affiliation, gender and education, have a sweeping effect on the way people negotiate.

Dr. Gal: "The agents I will build will be based on mathematical models that describe the way in which social and psychological motives affect humans. The use of these models will allow agents to learn how to negotiate with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. The research will evaluate the function of the agents in simulations in a laboratory in which computers and humans will participate together. In many days, the technology I developed will be used as a basis for agents who will be able to guide and even represent people in real negotiations."

Dr. Gal holds a bachelor's degree from Bar Ilan University, a doctorate from Harvard University, and after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he joined Ben-Gurion University.