Intelligent agents as innovations

摘要

This paper explores the treatment of intelligent agents as innovations. Past writings in the area of intelligent agents focus on the technical merits and internal workings of agent-based solutions. By adopting a perspective on agents from an innovations point of view, a new and novel description of agents is put forth in terms of their degrees of innovativeness, competitive implications, and perceived characteristics. To facilitate this description, a series of innovation-based theoretical models are utilized as a lens of analysis, namely Kleinschmidt and Coopers (J Prod Innovation Manage 8:240–251, 1991) market and technological newness map, Abernathy and Clarks (Res Policy 14:3–22, 1985) competitive implications framework, and Moore and Benbasats (Inf Syst Res 2:192–222, 1991) list of perceived innovating characteristics. Together, these models provide a theoretical foundation by which to describe intelligent agents, yielding new insights and perceptions on this relatively new form of software application.