A Formalization of Continuous Commitments among Multiple Agents

Continuous commitments are those that persist and cannot be discharged. An agent that has adopted a continuous commitment must strive to meet its requirements at all possible times. In this paper we define continuous commitments, formalize them using the branching-time logic CTL*, and relate them to an agent's beliefs, desires, and intentions. How the agents interact with each other, how they make decisions, what decision paths they traverse, and what motivates them to prefer one decision path over another are some of the questions that can be answered by a comprehensive decision theory based on multiagent commitments, and such a decision theory should cover all types of commitments. Our formalization addresses what it means for a participating agent to promise or to fulfill a continuous commitment.