Weiss, G (1999) Multiagent Systems - A Modern Approach to Distributed Artificial Intelligence, 585p

Since its inception in the mid to late 1970s distributed artificial intelligence (DAI) evolved and diversified rapidly.
Today it is an established and promising research and application field which brings together and draws on results,
concepts, and ideas from many disciplines, including artificial intelligence (AI), computer science, sociology,
economics, organization and management science, and philosophy. Its broad scope and multi-disciplinary nature make it
difficult to precisely characterize DAI in a few words. The following definition is intended to serve as a starting point for
exploring this arena and as a constant point of reference for reading through this book:
DAI is the study, construction, and application of multiagent systems, that is, systems in which several interacting, intelligent
agents pursue some set of goals or perform some set of tasks.