agents,demons, self regulating, self learning, background programs
Agents are software that search databases for relevant information in the same way as a web crawler scours the internet.
Demons are programs that start up when they are required. Demons allow AI software to be self modifying and to learn from experience.
Agents are programs which perform a processing or information gathering task. Search engines are agents. An agent may scour your email for junk mail or scour Ports for illegal activity from Hackers or Trojans. Most of the time agents will quietly run in the background unless they find anything important.
Are programs that will run when a certain condition is met. mailer daemons will let you know that an email has been unsuccessful and returned. Antivirus programs are demons. Most demons will operate without user actions.