Market Mechanisms for Multiple Minds

Christos Dimitrakakis

To: Harvard University, USA

From: Chalmers University of Technology

Project abstract

Most problems in artificial intelligence are too complex to be tackled by a monolithic agent mind. In this project, we shall investigate mechanisms for the collaboration between multiple minds that wish to achieve a common goal. However, each mind only has a partial knowledge and view of the world, and they must communicate to ensure that they co-ordinate successfully. In particular, we shall investigate simple signaling mechanisms, such as sidepayments, in order to ensure that locally optimal choices of minds result in near-optimal behavior of the complete agent. The applicants have considerable experience in decision theory, game theory, statistics and reinforcement learning. The project will develop state-of-the-art algorithms for effective co-ordination of distributed learning and acting, which are important in applications such as smart grids and vehicular networks.

The project will start a long-term collaboration between Chalmers and Harvard in the field of distributed learning and decision making. This is important for problems such as smart grids, crowdsourcing and vehicular networks where information and decision making are inherently distributed, as well as for bid data problems which are too large to solve in a centralised manner. The partners complement each other perfectly. The applicant is a well-known researcher in decision theory and reinforcement learning, while Prof. Parkes is an authority on multi-agent systems and mechanism design. We expect Chalmers to benefit from this collaboration: while the field is severely underdeveloped in Swedish universities, companies such as Microsoft, Google, Adobe and Facebook are investing heavily in the area. Further collaboration is envisaged in the form of PhD student exchange, larger projects and workshops.