For a brief introduction to software agents, read "What's an Agent?" at foner.www.media.mit.edu/foner/Yenta/agents.html. You can find links to demonstrations of agent software at www.isi.edu/isd/AA97/
software-demo.html. The Reader's Robot at www.tnrdlib.bc.ca/rr.html provides a fun way to learn what software agents can do. You can learn about the use of agents in business simulations and explore a demo at Thinking Tools, www.thinkingtools.com. A good summary of the current state the software agent field and links to resources is at Socially Intelligent Agents, www.cyber.rdg.ac.uk/people/kd/WWW/aaai-social.html.