At the Media Lab, Negroponte and other scientists are experimenting with the future. Pattie Maes, an expert in artificial intelligence, is trying to build some working "intelligent agents." (At a recent Media Lab conference, an ac-tor dressed as a butler tool. the stage, playing the part of an agent. That's interactive humor. ) In one program, Maes has created four "icons" on the computer screen representing agents with specific marching orders. For example, one dressed in a business suit seeks out business news. Al-though the agents are initially programmed, they actually learn by watching their master's preferences. She thinks that one day, agents may even communicate with agents from other users: "Let's say both you and I like the same movie reviews. Our agents could get together and deter-mine that we also had other interests in common. ” (Imagine the conversation: "Have I got a compatible user for you!")
在麻省理工学院媒介实验室里，尼格罗邦特和其他科学家正对未来的需要进行着实验研究工作。人工智能研究专家帕蒂米斯正致力于研制一种有实用价值的"智能型助手"。(在最近一次媒介实验室科学研讨会上，一个演员打扮成男管家，扮演智能助手的角色上台演出，这是相互作用式的幽默。)在一道程序中，米斯在计算机屏幕上创造出了四个人像，分别代表四个智能助手机器人而各有其具体的分工程序。比如，其中一个穿工作套服的智能助手机器人就负责搜寻业务信息。尽管这些机器人开始是编了程序的，但它们后来却可以通过观察主人的爱好来学到知识。她认为，终有一天，不同的用户使用的智能助手机器人之间能够互相进行交流："假如说你我两人都欣赏同样的电影评论，我们的智能助手机器人见面交谈后就会查知我们还有别的共同点。"(想一想这样的对话1 47该是多有意思："我可为你物色到一个好用户了吧!")
Maes and others concede that there's a dark side to all these bright dreams. Who will protect the privacy of consumers whose shopping, viewing and recreational habits are all fed into one cable-phone company data bank? And where there are agents, can counteragents be far behind: spies who might like to keep tabs on the activities of your electronic butlers? "Advertising companies see my presentations and get very excited," says Maes. Indeed, intelligent agents could be a gold mine of information. Advertisers aren't the only ones who could abuse the network if they were able to tap into it. The government could electronically spy on individuals; bosses could track employees.
米斯和其他科学家都承认这些光明的前景也有其阴暗的一面。消费者购物、观看节目和娱乐等方面的兴趣习惯全都通过电缆电话存储于某个公司的数据库里，谁来确保他们的隐私呢?而且，既然已有了智能助手，是否不久即会出现反助手，即时时监视着你的电子管家的一举一动的间谍呢?"一些广告公司看了我的报告后十分激动，"米斯说道。的确，智能助手可以源源不断地为你提供宝贵的信息，成为信息的金矿。只要可以偷偷接通信息网，不仅广告商可以滥用信息网，其他的人一样可以滥用信息网。政府可以通过电子手段对个人进行监视，老板也同样可以监视雇员。