Artificial intelligence agents play ever more influential roles in our lives. They do everything from suggesting new friends to recommending purchases. They are even beginning to drive our cars. Another role that they are expected to take over is negotiating on our behalf in commercial transactions or legal disputes.

So, it’s important to know whether using an artificial intelligence agent might affect how we negotiate. Research indicates that it does.

In a new study, participants were told to imagine that they were negotiating for something important to them, like a house. Next, they were told either that they would negotiate for themselves, or they would program an artificial intelligence agent to negotiate for them. Participants then completed a survey, indicating how tough, deceptive and pleasant or otherwise they wanted to be or wanted their agent to be in the negotiations. For example, participants could choose to be tough by making an opening demand far greater than what they’d be willing to accept. They could also choose to express sympathy with their opponent to appear pleasant. But they could also indicate that they, or their agent, would strategically express anger toward the opponent to gain advantage. Or they could opt to convey dissatisfaction with the encounter so that the other party would think they were losing interest. These are both examples of deceptive strategies. Participants were more willing to employ deceptive strategies when assigned an agent to negotiate on their behalf.

Q16: What does the passage say about artificial intelligence agents?
Q17: What does the new study want to find out about using an artificial intelligence agent?
Q18: What did participants tend to do when assigned an AI agent to negotiate on their behalf?