Abstract Emerging advances in artificial intelligence—especially large language models—raise the prospect of AI systems acting as full participants in negotiation rather than merely supporting tools. This article surveys the evolution of automated negotiators and mediators and outlines three foundational design choices that shape their effectiveness, and indeed, how “effectiveness” is defined: whether systems should follow rational decision-making or mirror human relational and emotional behavior; whether people should delegate negotiation to autonomous agents or participate in the negotiation process; and how systems should balance self-interest with joint gains. Although these choices were once treated as dichotomous, recent systems increasingly integrate elements of each. These developments aim to align strategic decision-making with relational communication in ways that human counterparts judge as procedurally fair. The article illustrates these trends through four contributions presented at the 2025 AI Negotiation Summit at MIT.
Jonathan Gratch (Thu,) studied this question.