21 Jun autonomous computing agents

Autonomous computing agents are self-managing computer programs, often very small with narrowly focused capabilities defined by the goals of the designers, able to automatically adapt to unpredictable changes in the information space. The information space may be in the physical world (such as agents operating in robots, vehicles, watercraft or aircraft), or in cyberspace. Some malicious bots are designed as autonomous agents, but uses can be benign and highly beneficial as well.

Enterprise IT, Software as a Service and other  computing paradigms are becoming much more complex, making their management, integration, upgrade and retirement efforts significant and costly. Autonomous agents may be used to automate some of these activities or sub-tasks, and shield users and technicians from the underlying complexity.