Automated Negotiations∗ Can Automated Agents Proficiently Negotiate with Humans?

Negotiation is a process in which interested parties confer with the aim of reaching an agreement. The ability to negotiate successfully is critical for any social interaction. In particular, automated negotiators should be able to proficiently interact and collaborate with people. Negotiation surrounds our every day life even without noticing or paying careful attention to it. We often find ourselves in situations, whether simple or complex, which require negotiations. They can either be bilateral or multilateral negotiations. They can also be simple and ordinary, like haggling over a price in the market or deciding on a meeting time. Nonetheless, they can also have colossal effects on the lives of millions, such as negotiations involving inter-country disputes and nuclear disarmament [14]. No matter what the domain, negotiation is not an easy task. Even what might be perceived as a“simple” case of a single-issue bilateral bargaining over a price in the market can demonstrate the difficulties that arise during the negotiation process. In fact, it may demonstrate the complexity of the negotiation process and the modeling of the environment. In this case there are two sides, each with her own preferences, that might, or might not, be known to the other party. In addition, some of these preferences might conflict and thus reaching an agreement would require a certain degree of cooperation or concession. Keeping all this in mind, the negotiation domain is an attractive environment for automated agents, resulting in many benefits. Automated agents can be used with humans in the loop or without them. On the one hand, they can alleviate some of the efforts required of people during negotiations and also assist people that are less qualified in the negotiation process. On the other hand there may be situations in which automated negotiators can even replace human negotiators. Another possibility is for people em-