 A new paradigm called " intelligent agents " became widely accepted during the 90s . Although earlier researchers had proposed modular " divide and conquer " approaches to AI , the intelligent agent did not reach its modern form until Judea Pearl , Allen Newell and others brought concepts from decision theory and economics into the study of AI . When the economist 's definition of a rational agent was married to computer science 's definition of an object or <unk> , the intelligent agent paradigm was complete . 
