An experimental system for real-time interaction between humans and hybrid AI agents

There is an emerging belief among AI researchers that intelligence is the product of specialised subsystems collaborating in a type of network of the mind. Several prototype systems have been developed as part of the World-Wide-Mind project [6] that facilitate the on-line deployment of hierarchically structured, multi-author, AI agents that we call minds. These agents function in on-line user defined environments that we call worlds. In this paper we describe the latest prototype system developed as part of the World-Wide-Mind project, the XAI (Experimental Artificial Intelligence) Server. Unlike its predecessors the XAI Server is a multi-agent system (MAS) allowing minds to run concurrently in the same on-line environment, facilitating inter-mind communication, cooperation and competition. The XAI Server also adds real-time interaction between humans and AI agents. Along with the potential for gauging the effectiveness of AI algorithms this raises issues relating to timing and knowledge representation that previous prototypes had no need to address. The XAI Server is loosely coupled with a scheduled threading model that makes it far more scalable than its predecessors. Capable of communicating with a standard Web browser the XAI Server moves the responsibility for content generation from the server to the client via a proprietary user interface language. We demonstrate how this system works with a sample ChatWorld and four example minds. Finally we discuss our future plans for enhancing the system to facilitate 2D and 3D world authoring.