Single-phase agreements among rational agents

A formal framework is presented that models communication and promises in multi-agent interactions. This framework generalizes previous work on co-operation without communication (Genesereth et al. 1984a, Genesereth et al. 1986), and shows the ability of communication to resolve conflicts among agents having disparate goals. Using a one-phase deal-making mechanism, agents are able to coordinate and cooperate more easily than in the communication-free model. In addition, there are certain types of interactions where communication makes possible mutually beneficial activity that is otherwise impossible to coordinate.