Intelligent Agents from Symbolic to Neurosymbolic Systems: The Quest for Integration

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Viviana Mascardi, Andrea Omicini (a cura di)
The Agents Journey: Twenty-Five Years of Multi-agent Systems, capitolo 12, pp. 320–339
Lecture Notes in Computer Science (State-of-the-Art Survey) 16395
Springer Nature Switzerland
aprile 2026

In this chapter we take as our reference twenty-five years of scientific and technical results presented at the Workshop on Objects, and explore the development of rational agents and integration with machine learning (ML) techniques, discussing their transition from pure symbolic to subsymbolic and neurosymbolic systems. Given the growing importance of combining rational agent reasoning with ML, we first outline the current state of technology by highlighting key milestones and breakthroughs. Pinpointing logics and logic programming as the main foundational tool for the design and implementation of rational agents, we discuss successful implementations and applications of logic-based agents, then we identify some of the main integration strands of subsymbolic techniques within rational agents. In particular, we focus on symbolic knowledge injection (SKI) and symbolic knowledge extraction (SKE) as some of the most relevant neurosymbolic techniques, and on their impact on intelligent agents and multi-agent systems (MASs). Current gaps and challenges in the integration of rational agents with ML are finally discussed along with future research directions.

parole chiave   Rational Agents, Logic Programming, Multi-agent Systems, Symbolic-Subsymbolic Integration
rivista o collana
book Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS)
pubblicazione contenitore
page_white_acrobat The Agents Journey (curatela, 2026) — Viviana Mascardi, Andrea Omicini
pubblicazione associata
page_white_acrobat 25 Years of Declarative Agent Technologies in Italy (capitolo di libro, 2026) — Davide Ancona, Daniela Briola, Angelo Ferrando, Maurizio Martelli, Viviana Mascardi
page_white_acrobat AI Infrastructure: From Gigastructure to Edge Intelligence with Multi-Agent Systems (capitolo di libro, 2026) — Andrea Omicini, Alessandro Ricci, Viviana Mascardi
page_white_acrobat Preface (editoriale/introduzione/prefazione, 2026) — Viviana Mascardi, Andrea Omicini
progetto finanziatore
wrench ENGINES — ENGineering INtElligent Systems around intelligent agent technologies (28/09/2023–27/02/2026)
wrench AEQUITAS — Assessment and Engineering of eQuitable, Unbiased, Impartial and Trustworthy Ai Systems (01/11/2022–31/10/2025)
wrench FAIR-PE01-SP08 — Future AI Research – Partenariato Esteso sull'Intelligenza Artificiale – Spoke 8 “Pervasive AI” (01/01/2023–31/12/2025)
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pubblicazione associata per
page_white_acrobat 25 Years of Declarative Agent Technologies in Italy (capitolo di libro, 2026) — Davide Ancona, Daniela Briola, Angelo Ferrando, Maurizio Martelli, Viviana Mascardi
page_white_acrobat AI Infrastructure: From Gigastructure to Edge Intelligence with Multi-Agent Systems (capitolo di libro, 2026) — Andrea Omicini, Alessandro Ricci, Viviana Mascardi
page_white_acrobat Preface (editoriale/introduzione/prefazione, 2026) — Viviana Mascardi, Andrea Omicini