Autonomy
Puts Industry's First Intelligent Agent Software on the Web.
PALO
ALTO,
Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 8, 1996--Autonomy Inc., today announced
the industry's first software applications to be built using
intelligent agent technology.
The
two products, Autonomy Web Research Agent and Autonomy Press Agent,
make use of intelligent agents -- software that goes out into the world
and performs tasks on behalf of the user. The technology will change
the way people use the World Wide Web and other electronic resources by
making information searches faster, easier and more precise and more
personal.
The
applications can be downloaded free of charge today from
http://www.agentware.com and are fully supported via e-mail. Beta
versions have been available at the site since August.
Both
packages are based on Autonomy's personalized intelligent agents, which
-- like a smartbloodhound --
are first "trained" by the user, then unleashed to sniff our useful
information from a variety ofinformation
resources,
such as the World Wide Web and corporate intranets. Once trained,
Autonomy's agents represent a user's interests on an ongoing basis.
Intelligent
agents grow smarter over time, becoming more discriminating as users
select the pages of most interest to them. Users also can train agents
on specific topics and share or exchange them with other users.
Autonomy's
intelligent agents represent a major advancement over the current state
of the art. "Whereas today's agent technology is adapted for very
narrow applications, such as playing on-linematchmaker,
our agents serve in many roles while maintaining your personal
information in the privacy of your own computer," said Richard Gaunt,
Autonomy technical director.
In
the future, Autonomy's agents will sort and prioritize electronic mail,
notifying the user of important incoming mail and separating "junk
e-mail"
into a separate listing. They will screen out objectionable content for
children, collaborate with other agents, and operate in aclient/server
network environment.
Trainable
Agents That Get Smarter Over Time
Autonomy's
agents are not only trainable, but get smarter with use -- employing
the results of one search in subsequent searches. "For example, an
agent trained on the phrase `infidelity in the Kennedy family'
retrieves many relevant documents using these key words," said Gaunt.
"And
when the user `retrains' the agent by selecting the most interesting
documents, subsequent retrievals become far more precise than any
conventional technology can deliver. In this case, the agent now
understands that, for example, the user is interested not just in
`infidelity,' but `misogyny' and `adultery' as well.
"A
trained agent stands ready to repeat this search whenever you wish, on
any collection of network information. The agent can do its work in the
foreground while you watch, or in the background while you do something
else," Gaunt said.
Cambridge
Neurodynamics developed its intelligent agent technology over a six
year period based on research fromCambridge
University.
Both Gaunt and founder Dr.Michael
Lynch are
leading authorities in the development ofneural
network applications.
These
applications mimic the pattern-finding abilities of the human mind to
pinpoint inter-relations within large amounts of information.
Autonomy's intelligent agents use neural networking to search for
patterns of information, rather than specific words or phrases, thereby
distinguishing relevant from irrelevant information.
Train,
Unleash and Retrieve
Autonomy
Web Research Agent and the Autonomy Press Agent search the broad Web
and publication Web sites, respectively. Both run underMicrosoft
Windows and
work in conjunction with standard browsers likeNetscape
Navigator and
Microsoft Explorer. Both packages give users an unlimited number of
agents (represented metaphorically on the screen as a pack of hounds),
which are trained with a phrase, concept or question.
Any
agent can then be unleashed simply by dragging its icon onto the Web
button. Users "retrain"
agents by entering new concepts or by selecting the most relevant pages
from Autonomy's built-in library of previously retrieved sites.
Intelligent
agents begin their search using an internal index, as well as accessing
some of the Web's most popular sites. Once "on the scent," an agent
searches from site to site until it finds information it considers
relevant to the original query. While users need not keep track of an
agent, its progress is charted on a "ticker
tape"
display that shows what material the agent is evaluating at the moment.
A
location map represents where on the web the agent has beenlooking
for information
and color-codes the relevance of each site. Relevant sites are
color-coded and sorted for relevancy. Users can limit the time of a
search, set the "curiosity level" governing how deep into a particular
site an agent will burrow, and specify the retrieval of pictures as
well as text.
The
Web Research Agent delivers a list of Web site links, complete with
preview information, that have been selected based on the training
criteria. Press Agent works similarly, compiling a personal newspaper
from a variety of sources. For sites requiring a subscription, Press
Agent can be configured to automatically log in with passwords and
registration details.
About
Autonomy Inc.
Autonomy
Inc. is the U.S. operation of Autonomy Corp. PLC, which was founded in
Cambridge, U.K., by Dr. Michael Lynch. Spun out of Cambridge
Neurodynamics, a world leader in the commercial application of neural
networks,fuzzy
logic and
related technology, Autonomy Inc. develops intelligent agent
applications for online environments. Autonomy Inc. is privately held,
with U.S. offices in Palo Alto and Roseland, New Jersey.