A fuzzy approach to reasoning with trust, distrust and insufficient trust

Abstract

Multi-agent systems are based upon cooperative interactions between agents, in which agents provide information, resources and services to others. Typically agents are autonomous and self-interested, meaning that they have control over their own actions, and that they seek to maximise their own goal achievement, rather than necessarily acting in a benevolent or socially-oriented manner. Consequently, interaction outcomes are uncertain since commitments can be broken and the actual services rendered may differ from expectations in terms of cost or quality. Cooperation is, therefore, an uncertain interaction, that has an inherent risk of failure or reduced performance. In this paper we show how agents can use trust to manage this risk. Our approach uses fuzzy logic to represent trust and allow agents to reason with uncertain and imprecise information regarding others' trustworthiness. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.