​ALIFE 2019 Workshop

Dr. Hirokazu Shirado (Yale University)​

Title: Experiments with Coordination and Cooperation in Hybrid Systems of Humans and Bots
 

Abstract:

I explore the role of individuals in facilitating collective performance using human-subject experiments. This work has involved the introduction of simply programmed artificial intelligence (AI) agents (“bots") into the networks, allowing human subjects to interact with them. Initial experiments examined the functional role of ostensibly irrational behaviors in human coordination in over 4,000 people arrayed in 230 groups. Results show that bots acting with small levels of randomness and placed in central locations within the networks significantly improve the collective performance of human groups. The results also show that behavioral randomness in bots affects the gameplay of the humans and that the spillover effect can benefit global coordination. New work using this experimental approach investigates the role of social interactions and the use of bots in other collective action phenomena, such as cooperation, resource sharing, and emergency evacuation. For instance, in experiments with about 2,000 people in 120 groups, I find that bots can be programmed using various kinds of simple logic so as to enhance cooperation in the groups. Overall, this work sheds light on hybrid systems of humans and machines that are embedded in networks, and it shows that bots can be used to help humans to help themselves.