Time-Dependent Utility and Action Under Uncertainty

TL;DR

This paper explores how to represent and reason with the changing utility of actions over time, emphasizing decision-making under resource constraints and illustrating with a system for time-sensitive reasoning.

Contribution

It introduces a semantics for time-dependent utility and demonstrates its application in decision contexts and a reasoning system called Protos.

Findings

Provides a formal semantics for time-dependent utility

Shows how time-dependent info influences decision-making

Illustrates with examples from the Protos system

Abstract

We discuss representing and reasoning with knowledge about the time-dependent utility of an agent's actions. Time-dependent utility plays a crucial role in the interaction between computation and action under bounded resources. We present a semantics for time-dependent utility and describe the use of time-dependent information in decision contexts. We illustrate our discussion with examples of time-pressured reasoning in Protos, a system constructed to explore the ideal control of inference by reasoners with limit abilities.