Agent Societies
Modeling Hawkish-Dovish Latent Beliefs in Multi-Agent Debate-Based LLMs for Monetary Policy Decision Classification
Takano, Kaito, Hirano, Masanori, Nakagawa, Kei
Accurately forecasting central bank policy decisions, particularly those of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has become increasingly important amid heightened economic uncertainty. While prior studies have used monetary policy texts to predict rate changes, most rely on static classification models that overlook the deliberative nature of policymaking. This study proposes a novel framework that structurally imitates the FOMC's collective decision-making process by modeling multiple large language models (LLMs) as interacting agents. Each agent begins with a distinct initial belief and produces a prediction based on both qualitative policy texts and quantitative macroeconomic indicators. Through iterative rounds, agents revise their predictions by observing the outputs of others, simulating deliberation and consensus formation. To enhance interpretability, we introduce a latent variable representing each agent's underlying belief (e.g., hawkish or dovish), and we theoretically demonstrate how this belief mediates the perception of input information and interaction dynamics. Empirical results show that this debate-based approach significantly outperforms standard LLMs-based baselines in prediction accuracy. Furthermore, the explicit modeling of beliefs provides insights into how individual perspectives and social influence shape collective policy forecasts.
Large-scale automatic carbon ion treatment planning for head and neck cancers via parallel multi-agent reinforcement learning
Zhang, Jueye, Yang, Chao, Lai, Youfang, Li, Kai-Wen, Yan, Wenting, Xia, Yunzhou, Zhang, Haimei, Zhou, Jingjing, Yang, Gen, Lin, Chen, Li, Tian, Zhang, Yibao
Head-and-neck cancer (HNC) planning is difficult because multiple critical organs-at-risk (OARs) are close to complex targets. Intensity-modulated carbon-ion therapy (IMCT) offers superior dose conformity and OAR sparing but remains slow due to relative biological effectiveness (RBE) modeling, leading to laborious, experience-based, and often suboptimal tuning of many treatment-planning parameters (TPPs). Recent deep learning (DL) methods are limited by data bias and plan feasibility, while reinforcement learning (RL) struggles to efficiently explore the exponentially large TPP search space. We propose a scalable multi-agent RL (MARL) framework for parallel tuning of 45 TPPs in IMCT. It uses a centralized-training decentralized-execution (CTDE) QMIX backbone with Double DQN, Dueling DQN, and recurrent encoding (DRQN) for stable learning in a high-dimensional, non-stationary environment. To enhance efficiency, we (1) use compact historical DVH vectors as state inputs, (2) apply a linear action-to-value transform mapping small discrete actions to uniform parameter adjustments, and (3) design an absolute, clinically informed piecewise reward aligned with plan scores. A synchronous multi-process worker system interfaces with the PHOENIX TPS for parallel optimization and accelerated data collection. On a head-and-neck dataset (10 training, 10 testing), the method tuned 45 parameters simultaneously and produced plans comparable to or better than expert manual ones (relative plan score: RL $85.93\pm7.85%$ vs Manual $85.02\pm6.92%$), with significant (p-value $<$ 0.05) improvements for five OARs. The framework efficiently explores high-dimensional TPP spaces and generates clinically competitive IMCT plans through direct TPS interaction, notably improving OAR sparing.
Automata-Conditioned Cooperative Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning
Yalcinkaya, Beyazit, Vazquez-Chanlatte, Marcell, Shah, Ameesh, Krasowski, Hanna, Seshia, Sanjit A.
We study the problem of learning multi-task, multi-agent policies for cooperative, temporal objectives, under centralized training, decentralized execution. In this setting, using automata to represent tasks enables the decomposition of complex tasks into simpler sub-tasks that can be assigned to agents. However, existing approaches remain sample-inefficient and are limited to the single-task case. In this work, we present Automata-Conditioned Cooperative Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (ACC-MARL), a framework for learning task-conditioned, decentralized team policies. We identify the main challenges to ACC-MARL's feasibility in practice, propose solutions, and prove the correctness of our approach. We further show that the value functions of learned policies can be used to assign tasks optimally at test time. Experiments show emergent task-aware, multi-step coordination among agents, e.g., pressing a button to unlock a door, holding the door, and short-circuiting tasks.
Optimal-Agent-Selection: State-Aware Routing Framework for Efficient Multi-Agent Collaboration
Wang, Jingbo, Zhao, Sendong, Wang, Haochun, Fan, Yuzheng, Zhang, Lizhe, Liu, Yan, Liu, Ting
The emergence of multi-agent systems powered by large language models (LLMs) has unlocked new frontiers in complex task-solving, enabling diverse agents to integrate unique expertise, collaborate flexibly, and address challenges unattainable for individual models. However, the full potential of such systems is hindered by rigid agent scheduling and inefficient coordination strategies that fail to adapt to evolving task requirements. In this paper, we propose STRMAC, a state-aware routing framework designed for efficient collaboration in multi-agent systems. Our method separately encodes interaction history and agent knowledge to power the router, which adaptively selects the most suitable single agent at each step for efficient and effective collaboration. Furthermore, we introduce a self-evolving data generation approach that accelerates the collection of high-quality execution paths for efficient system training. Experiments on challenging collaborative reasoning benchmarks demonstrate that our method achieves state-of-the-art performance, achieving up to 23.8% improvement over baselines and reducing data collection overhead by up to 90.1% compared to exhaustive search.
Co-Evolving Complexity: An Adversarial Framework for Automatic MARL Curricula
The advancement of general-purpose intelligent agents is intrinsically linked to the environments in which they are trained. While scaling models and datasets has yielded remarkable capabilities, scaling the complexity, diversity, and interactivity of environments remains a crucial bottleneck. Hand-crafted environments are finite and often contain implicit biases, limiting the potential for agents to develop truly generalizable and robust skills. In this work, we propose a paradigm for generating a boundless and adaptive curriculum of challenges by framing the environment generation process as an adversarial game. We introduce a system where a team of cooperative multi-agent defenders learns to survive against a procedurally generative attacker. The attacker agent learns to produce increasingly challenging configurations of enemy units, dynamically creating novel worlds tailored to exploit the defenders' current weaknesses. Concurrently, the defender team learns cooperative strategies to overcome these generated threats. This co-evolutionary dynamic creates a self-scaling environment where complexity arises organically from the adversarial interaction, providing an effectively infinite stream of novel and relevant training data. We demonstrate that with minimal training, this approach leads to the emergence of complex, intelligent behaviors, such as flanking and shielding by the attacker, and focus-fire and spreading by the defenders. Our findings suggest that adversarial co-evolution is a powerful mechanism for automatically scaling environmental complexity, driving agents towards greater robustness and strategic depth.
MARFT: Multi-Agent Reinforcement Fine-Tuning
Liao, Junwei, Wen, Muning, Wang, Jun, Zhang, Weinan
LLM-based Multi-Agent Systems have demonstrated remarkable capabilities in addressing complex, agentic tasks, from generating high-quality presentation slides to even conducting sophisticated scientific research. Meanwhile, RL has been widely recognized for its effectiveness in enhancing agent intelligence, but limited research has investigated the fine-tuning of LaMAS using foundational RL techniques. Moreover, the direct application of MARL methods to LaMAS introduces significant challenges, stemming from the unique characteristics and mechanisms inherent to LaMAS. To address these challenges, this article presents a comprehensive study of LLM-based MARL and proposes a novel paradigm termed Multi-Agent Reinforcement Fine-Tuning (MARFT). We introduce a brand-new MG called Flex-MG, which aligns with the LaMAS optimization in real-world applications and a universal algorithmic framework tailored specifically for LaMAS, outlining the conceptual foundations, key distinctions, and practical implementation strategies. We review the evolution from RL to RFT, setting the stage for a parallel analysis in the multi-agent domain. In the context of LaMAS, we elucidate critical differences between MARL and MARFT. These differences motivate a transition toward a LaMAS-oriented formulation of RFT. Central to this work is a robust and scalable MARFT framework. We detail the core algorithm and provide a complete, open-source implementation to facilitate adoption and further research. The latter sections of the paper explore real-world application perspectives and opening challenges in MARFT. By bridging theoretical underpinnings with practical methodologies, this work serves as a roadmap for researchers seeking to advance MARFT toward resilient and adaptive solutions in agentic systems. Our implementation of the proposed framework is publicly available at: https://github.com/jwliao-ai/MARFT.
MARS: Multi-Agent Robotic System with Multimodal Large Language Models for Assistive Intelligence
Multimodal large language models (MLLMs) have shown remarkable capabilities in cross-modal understanding and reasoning, offering new opportunities for intelligent assistive systems, yet existing systems still struggle with risk-aware planning, user personalization, and grounding language plans into executable skills in cluttered homes. We introduce MARS - a Multi-Agent Robotic System powered by MLLMs for assistive intelligence and designed for smart home robots supporting people with disabilities. The system integrates four agents: a visual perception agent for extracting semantic and spatial features from environment images, a risk assessment agent for identifying and prioritizing hazards, a planning agent for generating executable action sequences, and an evaluation agent for iterative optimization. By combining multimodal perception with hierarchical multi-agent decision-making, the framework enables adaptive, risk-aware, and personalized assistance in dynamic indoor environments. Experiments on multiple datasets demonstrate the superior overall performance of the proposed system in risk-aware planning and coordinated multi-agent execution compared with state-of-the-art multimodal models. The proposed approach also highlights the potential of collaborative AI for practical assistive scenarios and provides a generalizable methodology for deploying MLLM-enabled multi-agent systems in real-world environments.
GauDP: Reinventing Multi-Agent Collaboration through Gaussian-Image Synergy in Diffusion Policies
Wang, Ziye, Kang, Li, Qin, Yiran, Ma, Jiahua, Peng, Zhanglin, Bai, Lei, Zhang, Ruimao
Recently, effective coordination in embodied multi-agent systems has remained a fundamental challenge, particularly in scenarios where agents must balance individual perspectives with global environmental awareness. Existing approaches often struggle to balance fine-grained local control with comprehensive scene understanding, resulting in limited scalability and compromised collaboration quality. In this paper, we present GauDP, a novel Gaussian-image synergistic representation that facilitates scalable, perception-aware imitation learning in multi-agent collaborative systems. Specifically, GauDP constructs a globally consistent 3D Gaussian field from decentralized RGB observations, then dynamically redistributes 3D Gaussian attributes to each agent's local perspective. This enables all agents to adaptively query task-critical features from the shared scene representation while maintaining their individual viewpoints. This design facilitates both fine-grained control and globally coherent behavior without requiring additional sensing modalities (e.g., 3D point cloud). We evaluate GauDP on the RoboFactory benchmark, which includes diverse multi-arm manipulation tasks. Our method achieves superior performance over existing image-based methods and approaches the effectiveness of point-cloud-driven methods, while maintaining strong scalability as the number of agents increases.
On the Fundamental Limitations of Decentralized Learnable Reward Shaping in Cooperative Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning
Recent advances in learnable reward shaping have shown promise in single-agent reinforcement learning by automatically discovering effective feedback signals. However, the effectiveness of decentralized learnable reward shaping in cooperative multi-agent settings remains poorly understood. We propose DMARL-RSA, a fully decentralized system where each agent learns individual reward shaping, and evaluate it on cooperative navigation tasks in the simple_spread_v3 environment. Despite sophisticated reward learning, DMARL-RSA achieves only -24.20 +/- 0.09 average reward, compared to MAPPO with centralized training at 1.92 +/- 0.87 -- a 26.12-point gap. DMARL-RSA performs similarly to simple independent learning (IPPO: -23.19 +/- 0.96), indicating that advanced reward shaping cannot overcome fundamental decentralized coordination limitations. Interestingly, decentralized methods achieve higher landmark coverage (0.888 +/- 0.029 for DMARL-RSA, 0.960 +/- 0.045 for IPPO out of 3 total) but worse overall performance than centralized MAPPO (0.273 +/- 0.008 landmark coverage) -- revealing a coordination paradox between local optimization and global performance. Analysis identifies three critical barriers: (1) non-stationarity from concurrent policy updates, (2) exponential credit assignment complexity, and (3) misalignment between individual reward optimization and global objectives. These results establish empirical limits for decentralized reward learning and underscore the necessity of centralized coordination for effective multi-agent cooperation.
Language-Driven Coordination and Learning in Multi-Agent Simulation Environments
Li, Zhengyang, Campos, Sawyer, Wang, Nana
This paper introduces LLM-MARL, a unified framework that incorporates large language models (LLMs) into multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) to enhance coordination, communication, and generalization in simulated game environments. The framework features three modular components of Coordinator, Communicator, and Memory, which dynamically generate subgoals, facilitate symbolic inter-agent messaging, and support episodic recall. Training combines PPO with a language-conditioned loss and LLM query gating. LLM-MARL is evaluated in Google Research Football, MAgent Battle, and StarCraft II. Results show consistent improvements over MAPPO and QMIX in win rate, coordination score, and zero-shot generalization. Ablation studies demonstrate that subgoal generation and language-based messaging each contribute significantly to performance gains. Qualitative analysis reveals emergent behaviors such as role specialization and communication-driven tactics. By bridging language modeling and policy learning, this work contributes to the design of intelligent, cooperative agents in interactive simulations. It offers a path forward for leveraging LLMs in multi-agent systems used for training, games, and human-AI collaboration.