Intelligent agents are computer-based entities that can carry out certain kinds of searches in networks. They can be "knowbots" that examine network servers to gather data in support of specific questions. They can be brokers that negotiate between a human and machines or other humans, or which locate all instances of a certain type of resource. Whatever their form, they are certain to be regarded as important information objects appearing in workflow models of general organizational processes.From http://www.cox.smu.edu/class/mis6386/people/melhem/varieties.htmlThe research in the field of Intelligent Agents (Riecken, 1994) can be seen as providing active support in an environment for interactions between humans and software-based agents. A personal assistant is an example; it might screen email or monitor databases. Such an agent can be seen as a participant in a stylized conversation (Greif, 1994). Agents can facilitate coordination better if they base their behavior explicitly upon models of work processes. The ongoing research on agents to assist coordination and collaboration between people (such as agents which schedule calanders) is closely associated with CSCW.
There are two varieties of intelligent agents: 1)The plainer variety of intelligent agents is designed to learn and permanently take over routine and repetitive tasks from users. Such an agent might recognize, for instance, that you regularly ignore e-mail from your ex, and automatically delete such electronic mail when it arrives. 2)A sexier variety of intelligent agents is the "fire-and-forget" sort. For example a user might instruct an intelligent agent to find some arcane item of information and release the agent into the information superhighway. The intelligent agent might then make its way into the Library of Congress computer system, and inquire if and where such information exists. Other tasks that fire-and-forget intelligent agents might accomplish include scheduling appointments, shopping in electronic markets, alerting to opportunities, and remedying of problems such as software breakdowns.