mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Playing repeated games with Large Language Models

arXiv 2305.16867 ↗First posted 26 May 2023cs.CLcited by 213

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Cited by 107 in LLM agents and tool use, but placed by its own abstract, which didn’t fit.

Abstract (arXiv)

LLMs are increasingly used in applications where they interact with humans and other agents. We propose to use behavioural game theory to study LLM's cooperation and coordination behaviour. We let different LLMs play finitely repeated 2×2 games with each other, with human-like strategies, and actual human players. Our results show that LLMs perform particularly well at self-interested games like the iterated Prisoner's Dilemma family. However, they behave sub-optimally in games that require coordination, like the Battle of the Sexes. We verify that these behavioural signatures are stable across robustness checks. We additionally show how GPT-4's behaviour can be modulated by providing additional information about its opponent and by using a "social chain-of-thought" (SCoT) strategy. This also leads to better scores and more successful coordination when interacting with human players. These results enrich our understanding of LLM's social behaviour and pave the way for a behavioural game theory for machines.

Key facts. Cited by 213 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 25 of its 89 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 26 May 2023.

Builds on

25 of 89 references.

References · 25

  1. 2018BERT: Pre-training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understandingcited by 40,204
  2. 2020Language Models are Few-Shot Learnerscited by 32,199
  3. 2023GPT-4 Technical Reportcited by 18,132
  4. 2022Training language models to follow instructions with human feedbackcited by 15,712
  5. 2022Chain-of-Thought Prompting Elicits Reasoning in Large Language Modelscited by 12,302
  6. 2021Evaluating Large Language Models Trained on Codecited by 8,053
  7. 2022Large Language Models are Zero-Shot Reasonerscited by 4,323
  8. 2021On the Opportunities and Risks of Foundation Modelscited by 3,961
  9. 2023Sparks of Artificial General Intelligence: Early experiments with GPT-4cited by 2,579
  10. 2022Emergent Abilities of Large Language Modelscited by 2,483
  11. 2021Pre-train, Prompt, and Predict: A Systematic Survey of Prompting Methods in Natural Language Processingcited by 2,222
  12. 2022Using Large Language Models to Simulate Multiple Humans and Replicate Human Subject Studiescited by 506
13 more
  1. 2022Using cognitive psychology to understand GPT-3cited by 389
  2. 2023Large Language Models Fail on Trivial Alterations to Theory-of-Mind Taskscited by 288
  3. 2022Emergent Analogical Reasoning in Large Language Modelscited by 239
  4. 2018Machine Theory of Mindcited by 222
  5. 2023Evaluating Large Language Models in Theory of Mind Taskscited by 217
  6. 2022Language models show human-like content effects on reasoning taskscited by 171
  7. 2023Fundamental Limitations of Alignment in Large Language Modelscited by 152
  8. 2023Boosting Theory-of-Mind Performance in Large Language Models via Promptingcited by 64
  9. 2023Meta-in-context learning in large language modelscited by 59
  10. 2020When to (or not to) trust intelligent machines: Insights from an evolutionary game theory analysis of trust in repeated gamescited by 14
  11. 2023Towards the Scalable Evaluation of Cooperativeness in Language Modelscited by 12
  12. 2022Measuring an artificial intelligence agent's trust in humans using machine incentivescited by 5
  13. 2015Monte Carlo Planning method estimates planning horizons during interactive social exchangecited by 3

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2023: 26; 2024: 52; 2025: 55; 2026: 80.

213 papers.

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  1. 2023A Survey on Large Language Model based Autonomous Agentscited by 2,203
  2. 2023MetaGPT: Meta Programming for A Multi-Agent Collaborative Frameworkcited by 1,761
  3. 2024Large Language Model based Multi-Agents: A Survey of Progress and Challengescited by 752
  4. 2023Large Language Models Empowered Agent-based Modeling and Simulation: A Survey and Perspectivescited by 253
  5. 2023Exploring Collaboration Mechanisms for LLM Agents: A Social Psychology Viewcited by 221
  6. 2025Advances and Challenges in Foundation Agents: From Brain-Inspired Intelligence to Evolutionary, Collaborative, and Safe Systemscited by 125
  7. 2024GTBench: Uncovering the Strategic Reasoning Limitations of LLMs via Game-Theoretic Evaluationscited by 118
  8. 2024Emergent social conventions and collective bias in LLM populationscited by 115
  9. 2023Avalon's Game of Thoughts: Battle Against Deception through Recursive Contemplationcited by 102
  10. 2024LLM as a Mastermind: A Survey of Strategic Reasoning with Large Language Modelscited by 97
  11. 2023Cooperation, Competition, and Maliciousness: LLM-Stakeholders Interactive Negotiationcited by 94
  12. 2024How Well Can LLMs Negotiate? NegotiationArena Platform and Analysiscited by 93
38 more
  1. 2024Editable Scene Simulation for Autonomous Driving via Collaborative LLM-Agentscited by 91
  2. 2024Large Language Models and Games: A Survey and Roadmapcited by 91
  3. 2024GameBench: Evaluating Strategic Reasoning Abilities of LLM Agentscited by 89
  4. 2025ReMA: Learning to Meta-think for LLMs with Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learningcited by 78
  5. 2023Igniting Language Intelligence: The Hitchhiker's Guide From Chain-of-Thought Reasoning to Language Agentscited by 72
  6. 2023Suspicion-Agent: Playing Imperfect Information Games with Theory of Mind Aware GPT-4cited by 67
  7. 2024How Far Are We on the Decision-Making of LLMs? Evaluating LLMs' Gaming Ability in Multi-Agent Environmentscited by 66
  8. 2023CompeteAI: Understanding the Competition Dynamics in Large Language Model-based Agentscited by 65
  9. 2023LLM-Based Agent Society Investigation: Collaboration and Confrontation in Avalon Gameplaycited by 62
  10. 2024Can Large Language Model Agents Simulate Human Trust Behavior?cited by 62
  11. 2024CogBench: a large language model walks into a psychology labcited by 60
  12. 2023MAgIC: Investigation of Large Language Model Powered Multi-Agent in Cognition, Adaptability, Rationality and Collaborationcited by 56
  13. 2024Game-theoretic LLM: Agent Workflow for Negotiation Gamescited by 55
  14. 2023Do LLM Agents Exhibit Social Behavior?cited by 53
  15. 2023Multi-Agent Consensus Seeking via Large Language Modelscited by 50
  16. 2023Strategic Behavior of Large Language Models: Game Structure vs. Contextual Framingcited by 49
  17. 2025Base Models Beat Aligned Models at Randomness and Creativitycited by 48
  18. 2024Hypothetical Minds: Scaffolding Theory of Mind for Multi-Agent Tasks with Large Language Modelscited by 45
  19. 2023Welfare Diplomacy: Benchmarking Language Model Cooperationcited by 43
  20. 2024Decision-Making Behavior Evaluation Framework for LLMs under Uncertain Contextcited by 41
  21. 2024MetaOpenFOAM: an LLM-based multi-agent framework for CFDcited by 39
  22. 2024Moral Alignment for LLM Agentscited by 39
  23. 2023Visual cognition in multimodal large language modelscited by 38
  24. 2024Do LLM Agents Have Regret? A Case Study in Online Learning and Gamescited by 33
  25. 2025Generative to Agentic AI: Survey, Conceptualization, and Challengescited by 32
  26. 2023Pangu-Agent: A Fine-Tunable Generalist Agent with Structured Reasoningcited by 30
  27. 2024Cultural Evolution of Cooperation among LLM Agentscited by 30
  28. 2024Position: Theory of Mind Benchmarks are Broken for Large Language Modelscited by 30
  29. 2024STEER: Assessing the Economic Rationality of Large Language Modelscited by 26
  30. 2026This human study did not involve human subjects: Validating LLM simulations as behavioral evidencecited by 26
  31. 2023Wireless Multi-Agent Generative AI: From Connected Intelligence to Collective Intelligencecited by 25
  32. 2024PokeLLMon: A Human-Parity Agent for Pokemon Battles with Large Language Modelscited by 25
  33. 2024Hierarchical Auto-Organizing System for Open-Ended Multi-Agent Navigationcited by 24
  34. 2025SPIN-Bench: How Well Do LLMs Plan Strategically and Reason Socially?cited by 24
  35. 2024A Survey on Large Language Model-Based Social Agents in Game-Theoretic Scenarioscited by 23
  36. 2023Editing Personality for Large Language Modelscited by 22
  37. 2024S-Agents: Self-organizing Agents in Open-ended Environmentscited by 22
  38. 2024STRIDE: A Tool-Assisted LLM Agent Framework for Strategic and Interactive Decision-Makingcited by 22

50 most cited of 213 All 213 (JSON)

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  3. 2025Beyond Nash Equilibrium: Bounded Rationality of LLMs and humans in Strategic Decision-making
  4. 2026Multi-Agent Strategic Games with LLMs
  5. 2026Competition and Cooperation of LLM Agents in Games
  6. 2026Do LLMs Take Care of Their Own? Similarity Signals Can Induce Cooperation
  7. 2025Collaboration and Conflict between Humans and Language Models through the Lens of Game Theory
  8. 2024Shall We Team Up: Exploring Spontaneous Cooperation of Competing LLM Agents