Ambient intelligence (AmI) deals with a new world of ubiquitous computing devices, where physical environments interact intelligently and unobtrusively with people. These environments should be aware of people's needs, customizing requirements and forecasting behaviors. AmI environments can be diverse, such as homes, offices, meeting rooms, schools, hospitals, control centers, vehicles, tourist attractions, stores, sports facilities, and music devices. Artificial intelligence research aims to include more intelligence in AmI environments, allowing better support for humans and access to the essential knowledge for making better decisions when interacting with these environments. This article, which introduces a special issue on AmI, views the area from an artificial intelligence perspective.

Around the world, the electricity industry, which has long been dominated by vertically integrated utilities, is experiencing major changes in the structure of its markets and regulations. Owing to new regulations, it's evolving into a distributed industry in which market forces drive electricity's price. The industry is becoming competitive; a market environment is replacing the traditional centralized-operation approach. This transformation is often called the deregulation of the electricity market. MASCEM, a multiagent simulator system, is a valuable framework for evaluating new rules, new behavior, and new participants in the numerous electricity markets that are moving toward liberalization and competition.