Editing Software agent (section)

==Examples  of intelligent software agents==
{{See also|Intelligent agent}}

===Buyer agents (shopping bots)===
Buyer agents<ref>{{Cite book |last=Haag |first=Stephen |title=Management Information Systems for the Information Age |last2=Cummings |first2=Maeve |last3=Dawkins |first3=James |date=2006 |pages=224-228}}</ref> travel around a network (e.g. the internet) retrieving information about goods and services. These agents, also known as 'shopping bots', work very efficiently for commodity products such as CDs, books, electronic components, and other one-size-fits-all products. Buyer agents are typically optimized to allow for digital payment services used in e-commerce and traditional businesses.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://keystoneclick.com/blog/digital-marketing/maximize-your-business-impact-how-use-facebook-chatbots|title=Maximize Your Business Impact {{!}} How to Use Facebook Chatbots|website=Keystone Click|language=en|access-date=2017-09-07|date=2016-08-26}}</ref>

===User agents (personal agents)===
User agents, or personal agents, are intelligent agents that take action on your behalf. In this category belong those intelligent agents that already perform, or will shortly perform, the following tasks:
* Check your e-mail, sort it according to the user's order of preference, and alert you when important emails arrive.
* Play computer games as your opponent or patrol game areas for you.
* Assemble customized news reports for you. There are several versions of these, including CNN.
* Find information for you on the subject of your choice.
* Fill out forms on the Web automatically for you, storing your information for future reference
* Scan Web pages looking for and highlighting text that constitutes the "important" part of the information there
* Discuss topics with you ranging from your deepest fears to sports
* Facilitate with online job search duties by scanning known job boards and sending the resume to opportunities who meet the desired criteria
* Profile synchronization across heterogeneous social networks

===Monitoring-and-surveillance (predictive) agents===
[[Monitoring and Surveillance Agents|Monitoring and surveillance agents]] are used to observe and report on equipment, usually computer systems. The agents may keep track of company inventory levels, observe competitors' prices and relay them back to the company, watch [[stock manipulation]] by [[insider trading]] and rumors, etc.
[[File:Resource monitoring 2.jpg|thumb|Service monitoring]]

For example, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has an agent that monitors inventory, planning, schedules equipment orders to keep costs down, and manages food storage facilities. These agents usually monitor complex computer networks that can keep track of the configuration of each computer connected to the network.

A special case of monitoring-and-surveillance agents are organizations of agents used to [[Automated decision-making|automate decision-making]] process during tactical operations. The agents monitor the status of assets (ammunition, weapons available, platforms for transport, etc.) and receive goals from higher level agents. The agents then pursue the goals with the assets at hand, minimizing expenditure of the assets while maximizing goal attainment.

===Data-mining agents===
This agent uses information technology to find trends and patterns in an abundance of information from many different sources. The user can sort through this information in order to find whatever information they are seeking.

A data mining agent operates in a data warehouse discovering information. A 'data warehouse' brings together information from many different sources. "Data mining" is the process of looking through the data warehouse to find information that you can use to take action, such as ways to increase sales or keep customers who are considering defecting.

'Classification' is one of the most common types of data mining, which finds patterns in information and categorizes them into different classes. Data mining agents can also detect major shifts in trends or a key indicator and can detect the presence of new information and alert you to it. For example, the agent may detect a decline in the construction industry for an economy; based on this relayed information construction companies will be able to make intelligent decisions regarding the hiring/firing of employees or the purchase/lease of equipment in order to best suit their firm.

===Networking and communicating agents===
Some other examples of current [[intelligent agent]]s include some [[spam (e-mail)|spam]] filters, game [[computer game bot|bots]], and server monitoring tools. [[Search engine indexing]] bots also qualify as intelligent agents.
* [[User agent]] - for browsing the World Wide Web
* [[Mail transfer agent]] - For serving E-mail, such as ''Microsoft Outlook''. Why? It communicates with the POP3 mail server, without users having to understand [[Post Office Protocol|POP3]] command protocols. It even has rule sets that filter mail for the user, thus sparing them the trouble of having to do it themselves.
* [[Simple Network Management Protocol|SNMP]] agent
* In Unix-style networking servers, ''[[Apache HTTP Server|httpd]]'' is an HTTP daemon that implements the [[Hypertext Transfer Protocol]] at the root of the [[World Wide Web]]
* [[Management agent]]s used to manage telecom devices
* [[Crowd simulation]] for safety planning or [[3D computer graphics]],
* Wireless ''beaconing agent'' is a simple process hosted single tasking entity for implementing [[wireless lock]] or electronic leash in conjunction with more complex software agents hosted e.g. on wireless receivers.
* Use of autonomous agents (deliberately equipped with noise) to optimize coordination in groups online.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Shirado|first1=Hirokazu|last2=Christakis|first2=Nicholas A|title=Locally noisy autonomous agents improve global human coordination in network experiments|journal=Nature|volume=545|issue=7654|pages=370–374|doi=10.1038/nature22332|pmid=28516927|pmc=5912653|year=2017|bibcode=2017Natur.545..370S}}</ref>

===Software development agents (aka software bots)===
{{Main|Software bot}}
Software bots are becoming important in software engineering.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1109/MS.2017.4541027|title = Software Bots|journal = IEEE Software|volume = 35|pages = 18–23|year = 2018|last1 = Lebeuf|first1 = Carlene|last2 = Storey|first2 = Margaret-Anne|last3 = Zagalsky|first3 = Alexey|s2cid = 31931036}}</ref>

=== Security agents ===
Agents are also used in software security application to intercept, examine and act on various types of content.  Example include: 
* [[Data loss prevention software|Data Loss Prevention (DLP)]] Agents<ref>{{Cite web | title=Enterprise IP and DLP Software {{!}} Digital Guardian | url=https://info.digitalguardian.com/rs/768-OQW-145/images/SC-Labs-DLP-GROUP-TEST-AND-DG-REVIEW.pdf?field_resource_type_value=analyst-reports | access-date=2024-12-25 | website=info.digitalguardian.com}}</ref> - examine user operations on a computer or network, compare with policies specifying allowed actions, and take appropriate action (e.g. allow, alert, block).  The more comprehensive DLP agents can also be used to perform EDR functions.
* Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Agents - monitor all activity on an endpoint computer in order to detect and respond to malicious activities 
*Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) Agents - similar to DLP Agents, however examining traffic going to cloud applications