Optimal Control in a Multiagent Opinion Dynamic System

Abstract

The paper considers a multiagent system of opinion dynamics modeling a finite social network opinion transformation. In the system, there is an influencer or a player who is interested in making the agents’ opinions in the system close to the target opinion. We assume that the player can influence the system only at a limited number of time periods. The player minimizes his costs by selecting moments to control the multiagent system at these moments, while at any time period he observes the agents’ opinions. The optimization problem is solved using the Euler-equation approach. The numerical simulations represent the proposed method of finding the optimal solution of the problem.