Intelligent agent (Bots)

An intelligent agent, or Bot, is a computer program that is used to run automated activities over the internet, that is, it does not require a human operator. Generally, bots perform activities that are simple and normally repetitive at speeds that would not be possible by humans.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Intelligent agent (Bots) specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Bots may also be used in tasks that require very high speeds that cannot be achieved by humans, (such as in online computer games or internet auctions), or in situations where the emulation of human activity is needed, for instance, a company can use bots to chat with its clients over the internet. Commercial Uses Bots are used for a variety of purposes over the internet. A type of bot, known as chatterbot, is used in automated online assistants by businesses to interact with its customers through chat. This can help such businesses to operate on a full time basis without requiring physical human presence. This can be beneficial in reducing the organization’s operation and training costs. Consumers can also use bots to search for products and compare prices over the internet, and these are known as shopping bots. Apart from searching for specific goods over the internet, bots have also been used extensively in personal finance through personal finance bots (PFBs). PFBs act as â€Å"virtual financial intermediaries† that perform financial transactions and fetches information on financial products according to the information input by the user. Bots can be used to purchase tickets for various functions, concerts, and events. They are mostly used by ticket-brokerage companies that resell tickets. The bots are used to purchase unfairly, the best seats in an event while denying the public of a chance to have those seats. The businesses then resell the seats at a higher price. Bots are also used extensively in on line games to hunt for resources that would otherwise take a considerable amount of time to acquire. This is an unfair tact and amounts to cheating as it goes outside the game program and give unfair advantage to the users. Consequently, users found to be using bots in such games are normally banned by the respective companies. Malicious Purposes Although bots can be used for beneficial purposes, some people can use it a malicious tool to gain access to a person’s computer. Once they gain access, an attacker is able to gain the users internet activities, steal credit card information, social security information, and other useful information, or even carry out DoS attacks against websites, servers, and send multiple email messages (spam).Advertising Looking for assessment on it? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More An attacker may also use malicious bots to send numerous advertising links to internet users. To carry out thes e malicious activities, a bot harvests email addresses from various sites that collect user information. To prevent malicious bots from gaining access to websites, sending spam, or performing other malicious tasks, several tools are used. One anti-bot tool known as CAPTCHA is normally used. This tool distinguishes between a human user and a bot by requesting the user to input an encoded human-readable text before proceeding with the task. Conclusion Bots, if used in the right manner, can be very effective in helping a company to carry out business activities even in the absence of a human operator, and this can benefit the company by increasing sales and reducing expenditure. Shoppers can also benefit immensely from bots. This assessment on Intelligent agent (Bots) was written and submitted by user Gavin Z. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.