Autonomy: Variable and Generative

Abstract

In the paper we discuss variable and generative forms of autonomy.Variable autonomy is discussed in terms of the practicalities indesigning autonomous agents, dealing as it does with the notion ofdegrees of autonomy and hence issues of agent control. The majorpart of the paper discusses an absolute, theoretically grounded notionof autonomy: the ability to generate one’s own goals.This theoretical account of autonomy is embedded in the larger SMARTframework and is intimately linked with the issue of motivation.Autonomous agents are motivated agents in that for the generationof goals an agent needs a set of higher order, non-derivative sourcesof action, or in our terminology, motivations. Autonomous agentsin the SMART framework form the basis and source of action in multi-agentsystems, which can thus propagate through the other entities in thesystem, such as non-autonomous agents and objects. We conclude witha discussion regarding the situations an autonomous agent would bewilling to relinquish its autonomy thus linking the generative andvariable notions of autonomy.