mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

ProAgent: Building Proactive Cooperative Agents with Large Language Models

arXiv 2308.11339 ↗First posted 22 Aug 2023cs.AI cs.LG cs.MAcited by 97

On the map: LLM agents and tool use → General LLM agent frameworks and benchmarks

Abstract (arXiv)

Building agents with adaptive behavior in cooperative tasks stands as a paramount goal in the realm of multi-agent systems. Current approaches to developing cooperative agents rely primarily on learning-based methods, whose policy generalization depends heavily on the diversity of teammates they interact with during the training phase. Such reliance, however, constrains the agents' capacity for strategic adaptation when cooperating with unfamiliar teammates, which becomes a significant challenge in zero-shot coordination scenarios. To address this challenge, we propose ProAgent, a novel framework that harnesses large language models (LLMs) to create proactive agents capable of dynamically adapting their behavior to enhance cooperation with teammates. ProAgent can analyze the present state, and infer the intentions of teammates from observations. It then updates its beliefs in alignment with the teammates' subsequent actual behaviors. Moreover, ProAgent exhibits a high degree of modularity and interpretability, making it easily integrated into various of coordination scenarios. Experimental evaluations conducted within the Overcooked-AI environment unveil the remarkable performance superiority of ProAgent, outperforming five methods based on self-play and population-based training when cooperating with AI agents. Furthermore, in partnered with human proxy models, its performance exhibits an average improvement exceeding 10% compared to the current state-of-the-art method. For more information about our project, please visit~urlhttps://pku-proagent.github.io.

Key facts. Cited by 97 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in General LLM agent frameworks and benchmarks, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 28 of its 38 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 22 Aug 2023.

Builds on

28 of 38 references.

References · 28

  1. 2020Language Models are Few-Shot Learnerscited by 32,199
  2. 2022ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Modelscited by 8,355
  3. 2022Self-Consistency Improves Chain of Thought Reasoning in Language Modelscited by 5,601
  4. 2022Large Language Models are Zero-Shot Reasonerscited by 4,323
  5. 2023Reflexion: Language Agents with Verbal Reinforcement Learningcited by 4,064
  6. 2023Sparks of Artificial General Intelligence: Early experiments with GPT-4cited by 2,579
  7. 2022Code as Policies: Language Model Programs for Embodied Controlcited by 1,172
  8. 2021The Surprising Effectiveness of PPO in Cooperative, Multi-Agent Gamescited by 903
  9. 2023Reasoning with Language Model is Planning with World Modelcited by 846
  10. 2018QMIX: Monotonic Value Function Factorisation for Deep Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learningcited by 697
  11. 2022Towards Reasoning in Large Language Models: A Surveycited by 593
  12. 2019Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning: A Selective Overview of Theories and Algorithmscited by 555
16 more
  1. 2022MineDojo: Building Open-Ended Embodied Agents with Internet-Scale Knowledgecited by 469
  2. 2017Population Based Training of Neural Networkscited by 351
  3. 2019On the Utility of Learning about Humans for Human-AI Coordinationcited by 345
  4. 2022Generating Sequences by Learning to Self-Correctcited by 271
  5. 2022Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning is a Sequence Modeling Problemcited by 153
  6. 2021Collaborating with Humans without Human Datacited by 139
  7. 2020Game-Theoretic Multiagent Reinforcement Learningcited by 92
  8. 2021Maximum Entropy Population-Based Training for Zero-Shot Human-AI Coordinationcited by 69
  9. 2021ToM2C: Target-oriented Multi-agent Communication and Cooperation with Theory of Mindcited by 57
  10. 2019Simplified Action Decoder for Deep Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learningcited by 47
  11. 2021Grounding Language to Entities and Dynamics for Generalization in Reinforcement Learningcited by 45
  12. 2021UPDeT: Universal Multi-agent Reinforcement Learning via Policy Decoupling with Transformerscited by 39
  13. 2021Offline Pre-trained Multi-Agent Decision Transformer: One Big Sequence Model Tackles All SMAC Taskscited by 32
  14. 2023Cooperative Open-ended Learning Framework for Zero-shot Coordinationcited by 30
  15. 2022Any-Play: An Intrinsic Augmentation for Zero-Shot Coordinationcited by 22
  16. 2023Tackling Cooperative Incompatibility for Zero-Shot Human-AI Coordinationcited by 12

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2023: 12; 2024: 24; 2025: 38; 2026: 23.

97 papers.

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  1. 2023The Rise and Potential of Large Language Model Based Agents: A Surveycited by 1,422
  2. 2024Large Language Model based Multi-Agents: A Survey of Progress and Challengescited by 752
  3. 2024Data Interpreter: An LLM Agent For Data Sciencecited by 222
  4. 2025UI-TARS-2 Technical Report: Advancing GUI Agent with Multi-Turn Reinforcement Learningcited by 205
  5. 2025Large Language Model Agent: A Survey on Methodology, Applications and Challengescited by 194
  6. 2023JARVIS-1: Open-World Multi-task Agents with Memory-Augmented Multimodal Language Modelscited by 170
  7. 2026SoK: Agentic Skills -- Beyond Tool Use in LLM Agentscited by 120
  8. 2024A Survey on Large Language Model-Based Game Agentscited by 106
  9. 20233D-GPT: Procedural 3D Modeling with Large Language Modelscited by 91
  10. 2023MindAgent: Emergent Gaming Interactioncited by 87
  11. 2024Embodied LLM Agents Learn to Cooperate in Organized Teamscited by 81
  12. 2023Large Language Models Play StarCraft II: Benchmarks and A Chain of Summarization Approachcited by 79
38 more
  1. 2024RAT: Retrieval Augmented Thoughts Elicit Context-Aware Reasoning in Long-Horizon Generationcited by 75
  2. 2025MedAgent-Pro: Towards Evidence-based Multi-modal Medical Diagnosis via Reasoning Agentic Workflowcited by 71
  3. 2026Memory for Autonomous LLM Agents:Mechanisms, Evaluation, and Emerging Frontierscited by 60
  4. 2024Towards Efficient LLM Grounding for Embodied Multi-Agent Collaborationcited by 45
  5. 2024Hypothetical Minds: Scaffolding Theory of Mind for Multi-Agent Tasks with Large Language Modelscited by 45
  6. 2025ContextAgent: Context-Aware Proactive LLM Agents with Open-World Sensory Perceptionscited by 44
  7. 2024CivRealm: A Learning and Reasoning Odyssey in Civilization for Decision-Making Agentscited by 41
  8. 2024Agent Design Pattern Catalogue: A Collection of Architectural Patterns for Foundation Model based Agentscited by 35
  9. 2025From Language to Action: A Review of Large Language Models as Autonomous Agents and Tool Userscited by 32
  10. 2023AgentCoder: Multi-Agent-based Code Generation with Iterative Testing and Optimisationcited by 31
  11. 2024Exploring Autonomous Agents through the Lens of Large Language Models: A Reviewcited by 30
  12. 2024OmniJARVIS: Unified Vision-Language-Action Tokenization Enables Open-World Instruction Following Agentscited by 30
  13. 2024Efficient Reinforcement Learning with Large Language Model Priorscited by 30
  14. 2023A Review of Cooperation in Multi-agent Learningcited by 27
  15. 2023Learning to Break: Knowledge-Enhanced Reasoning in Multi-Agent Debate Systemcited by 26
  16. 2024Large Model Based Agents: State-of-the-Art, Cooperation Paradigms, Security and Privacy, and Future Trendscited by 26
  17. 2025MA-RAG: Multi-Agent Retrieval-Augmented Generation via Collaborative Chain-of-Thought Reasoningcited by 24
  18. 2024AgentLens: Visual Analysis for Agent Behaviors in LLM-based Autonomous Systemscited by 23
  19. 2025Game-TARS: Pretrained Foundation Models for Scalable Generalist Multimodal Game Agentscited by 23
  20. 2024A Survey on Game Playing Agents and Large Models: Methods, Applications, and Challengescited by 22
  21. 2025Will Systems of LLM Agents Cooperate: An Investigation into a Social Dilemmacited by 22
  22. 2024MorphAgent: Empowering Agents through Self-Evolving Profiles and Decentralized Collaborationcited by 15
  23. 2023VAL: Interactive Task Learning with GPT Dialog Parsingcited by 14
  24. 2025Maestro: Learning to Collaborate via Conditional Listwise Policy Optimization for Multi-Agent LLMscited by 14
  25. 2023Towards Responsible Generative AI: A Reference Architecture for Designing Foundation Model based Agentscited by 13
  26. 2025SafeMind: Benchmarking and Mitigating Safety Risks in Embodied LLM Agentscited by 13
  27. 2024CaPo: Cooperative Plan Optimization for Efficient Embodied Multi-Agent Cooperationcited by 12
  28. 2024MLLM as Retriever: Interactively Learning Multimodal Retrieval for Embodied Agentscited by 11
  29. 2025United Minds or Isolated Agents? Exploring Coordination of LLMs under Cognitive Load Theorycited by 10
  30. 2023Ask more, know better: Reinforce-Learned Prompt Questions for Decision Making with Large Language Modelscited by 9
  31. 2024Professional Agents -- Evolving Large Language Models into Autonomous Experts with Human-Level Competenciescited by 9
  32. 2025OpenHA: A Series of Open-Source Hierarchical Agentic Models in Minecraftcited by 9
  33. 2025Beyond Reactivity: Measuring Proactive Problem Solving in LLM Agentscited by 9
  34. 2026Adaptive Collaboration with Humans: Metacognitive Policy Optimization for Multi-Agent LLMs with Continual Learningcited by 9
  35. 2023Efficient Human-AI Coordination via Preparatory Language-based Conventioncited by 7
  36. 2024Verco: Learning Coordinated Verbal Communication for Multi-agent Reinforcement Learningcited by 7
  37. 2025Open-World Skill Discovery from Unsegmented Demonstrationscited by 7
  38. 2024DAWN: Designing Distributed Agents in a Worldwide Networkcited by 6

50 most cited of 97 All 97 (JSON)

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  2. 2025Dynamic Strategy Adaptation in Multi-Agent Environments with Large Language Models
  3. 2025Self-Evolving Multi-Agent Systems via Textual Backpropagation
  4. 2024Agent-Pro: Learning to Evolve via Policy-Level Reflection and Optimization
  5. 2023Cooperation on the Fly: Exploring Language Agents for Ad Hoc Teamwork in the Avalon Game
  6. 2025Multi-Agent Language Models: Advancing Cooperation, Coordination, and Adaptation
  7. 2024Proactive Agent: Shifting LLM Agents from Reactive Responses to Active Assistance
  8. 2025Learn as Individuals, Evolve as a Team: Multi-agent LLMs Adaptation in Embodied Environments