Chapter 25: Challenges and Extensions

Chapter 25:Challenges and ExtensionsService-Oriented Computing: Semantics, Processes, Agents– Munindar P. Singh and Michael N. Huhns, Wiley, 2005

Chapter 25 2Service-Oriented Computing: Semantics, Processes, Agents - Munindar Singh and

Michael Huhns

Highlights of this Chapter Trust Ethics Coherence Benevolence Managing Privacy Key Challenges and

Recommendations


Michael Huhns

When Would you Trust a Service?

Has the right capabilities Understands your needs Follows legal contracts where

specified Supports its organization or society Follows an ethics Behaves rationally


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Ethical Abstractions Deontological ethics Teleological ethics Consequentialism Duties Obligations Applying ethics


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MotivationSpecifying agents who would act

appropriately Distinguishing right from wrong Relates to legal, social, economic

considerations


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Right and Good Right: that which is right in itself Good: that which is good or

valuable for someone or for some end


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Deontological vs. Teleological

Deontological theories Right trumps good

Being good does not mean being right Ends do not justify means

Teleological theories Good trumps right

Something is right only if it maximizes the good

Ends justify means


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Deontological Theories Constraints

Negatively formulated Narrowly framed

E.g., lying is not not-telling-the-truth Narrowly directed

At an agent’s specific action and its explicitly identified consequences

Not at the action by other means Not at implicit, even known,

consequences


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Deontological Double Effect

Distinguish intentional effects from foreseen consequences

An action is not wrong unless the agent explicitly intends for it to do wrong Legitimizes inaction even when

inaction has predictable (but unintended) effects

Shut down bank ATM for diagnostics even if that might leave someone without cash


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Kant’s Categorical Imperative

Universalizability: Acceptable outcomes if everyone applies the same “maxim” False promising is unacceptable,

because if everyone did so, society would not function

Respect for others (no lying or coercion) so they can consent

An agent “maxim” is uncertainly inferred from its actions


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Teleological Theories Based on how actions satisfy

various goals, not their intrinsic rightness Comparison-based Preference-based


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ConsequentialismAn agent should promote whatever

values it adopts Actions are instrumental in the

promotion Honor the values only if doing so

promotes them


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UtilitarianismA moral action is one that is useful Must be good for someone Good may be interpreted as

Pleasure: hedonism Preference satisfaction: microeconomic

rationalism (assumes each agent knows its preferences)

Interest satisfaction: welfare utilitarianism Aesthetic ideals: ideal utilitarianism


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Prima Facie Duties What agents need to decide

actions are Not just universal principles (each can be

stretched) Not just consequences But also a regard for their promises and

duties Agents have prima facie duties to

help others, keep promises, repay kindness,...

No ranking among these Highly defeasible conclusions, e.g., steal

food to feed kids


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ObligationsObligations are For deontological theories, those

that are impermissible to omit For teleological theories, those that

most promote good For contract-based theories, those

that an agent accepts


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Asimov’s Laws of Robotics0. A robot may not injure humanity or, through

inaction, allow humanity to come to harm. [Added after the following more famous laws]

1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.


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Applying Ethics: 1The ethical theories are theories

Of justification Not of deliberation

An agent can decide what basic “value system” to use under any approach


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Applying Ethics: 2 The deontological theories (“right”)

Are narrower Ignore practical considerations But are meant as incomplete constraints

(out of all the right actions, the agent can choose any)

The teleological theories (“good”) Are broader Include practical considerations But leave fewer options for the agent, who

must always choose the best available alternative


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Applying Ethics: 3 The ethical approaches

Are single-agent in orientation Implicitly encode other agents

An explicitly multiagent ethics would be an interesting topic for study


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An Agent Should Act Benevolently

Seeking the welfare of others Rationally, i.e., maximizing utility

Consistent with its model of itself Predictably

Consistent with its model of others’ beliefs about it


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Benevolence: “A Mattress in the Road”

Mattresscars

Who will stop to pick it up?


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Example: Information Sharing Benevolent agents sharing information

they have retrieved, filtered, and refined

Utilitarian variant: Access to shared information based on contributions to it

Collective Store World Wide Web...

Query Agents


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Challenges and Recommendations

Respect autonomy and heterogeneity Design rules for ontologies, business

transactions, protocols, organizations, …

Security and trust: difficult given openness

Scalability Quality of service: application-specific

and incorporating user needs User-centered requirements analysis

and design


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Chapter 25 Summary SOC is about building systems in open

environments SOC systems rely upon trust among

components and people Technical work on trust: in progress

Can ethics inspire abstractions for SOC? More responsive to human needs? Easier to govern?


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To Probe Further Journals

IEEE Internet Computing, http://computer.org/internet

Journal of Web Semantics IEEE Transactions on Services Computing

[email protected] Conferences

Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems Business Process Managment Semantic Web Conference (ISWC) Service-Oriented Computing (ICSOC) Service Computing (SCC) Web Services (ICWS) World-Wide Web (WWW)

Chapter 25: Challenges and Extensions

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