Agents of various sorts have been described in respect to cognition and computers for decades. The pandemonium of agents in models of how we think and AI robots making decisions have taken the sidelines to the compelling notions of user helper Agents. The computing industry is becoming obsessed with both user interface agents which support learning and using computer tools as well as investigative agents which can roam around collecting things of importance to a user.

This talk will outline techniques and strategies styles and power of different approaches to agents people are considering. We will also describe agents we have been experimenting with and the ways in which we find them valuable as assistants and as advisors.