mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Lyfe Agents: Generative agents for low-cost real-time social interactions

arXiv 2310.02172 ↗First posted 3 Oct 2023cs.HC cs.AI cs.LGcited by 49

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

Abstract (arXiv)

Highly autonomous generative agents powered by large language models promise to simulate intricate social behaviors in virtual societies. However, achieving real-time interactions with humans at a low computational cost remains challenging. Here, we introduce Lyfe Agents. They combine low-cost with real-time responsiveness, all while remaining intelligent and goal-oriented. Key innovations include: (1) an option-action framework, reducing the cost of high-level decisions; (2) asynchronous self-monitoring for better self-consistency; and (3) a Summarize-and-Forget memory mechanism, prioritizing critical memory items at a low cost. We evaluate Lyfe Agents' self-motivation and sociability across several multi-agent scenarios in our custom LyfeGame 3D virtual environment platform. When equipped with our brain-inspired techniques, Lyfe Agents can exhibit human-like self-motivated social reasoning. For example, the agents can solve a crime (a murder mystery) through autonomous collaboration and information exchange. Meanwhile, our techniques enabled Lyfe Agents to operate at a computational cost 10-100 times lower than existing alternatives. Our findings underscore the transformative potential of autonomous generative agents to enrich human social experiences in virtual worlds.

Key facts. Cited by 49 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 19 of its 62 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 3 Oct 2023.

Builds on

19 of 62 references.

Closest ancestors · 3

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2023Agents: An Open-source Framework for Autonomous Language Agents14 Sep
  2. 2023InterAct: Exploring the Potentials of ChatGPT as a Cooperative Agent3 Aug
  3. 2023SwiftSage: A Generative Agent with Fast and Slow Thinking for Complex Interactive Tasks27 May

Other references · 16

  1. 2023Reflexion: Language Agents with Verbal Reinforcement Learningcited by 4,064
  2. 2023Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behaviorcited by 3,500
  3. 2023Sparks of Artificial General Intelligence: Early experiments with GPT-4cited by 2,579
  4. 2023Voyager: An Open-Ended Embodied Agent with Large Language Modelscited by 2,081
  5. 2023FrugalGPT: How to Use Large Language Models While Reducing Cost and Improving Performancecited by 791
  6. 2016The Option-Critic Architecturecited by 433
  7. 2022Social Simulacra: Creating Populated Prototypes for Social Computing Systemscited by 300
  8. 2023Ghost in the Minecraft: Generally Capable Agents for Open-World Environments via Large Language Models with Text-based Knowledge and Memorycited by 288
  9. 2018Unity: A General Platform for Intelligent Agentscited by 232
  10. 2023S3: Social-network Simulation System with Large Language Model-Empowered Agentscited by 228
  11. 2020PettingZoo: Gym for Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learningcited by 209
  12. 2023Clever Hans or Neural Theory of Mind? Stress Testing Social Reasoning in Large Language Modelscited by 161
4 more
  1. 2023Two Failures of Self-Consistency in the Multi-Step Reasoning of LLMscited by 36
  2. 2023The Machine Psychology of Cooperation: Can GPT models operationalise prompts for altruism, cooperation, competitiveness and selfishness in economic games?cited by 22
  3. 2019Towards a Quantum-Like Cognitive Architecture for Decision-Makingcited by 17
  4. 2023OlaGPT: Empowering LLMs With Human-like Problem-Solving Abilitiescited by 10

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2023: 5; 2024: 17; 2025: 22; 2026: 5.

49 papers.

Sort:

By area:

  1. 2024Large Language Model based Multi-Agents: A Survey of Progress and Challengescited by 752
  2. 2024A Survey on the Memory Mechanism of Large Language Model based Agentscited by 622
  3. 2025Memory in the Age of AI Agentscited by 285
  4. 2023Simulating Opinion Dynamics with Networks of LLM-based Agentscited by 153
  5. 2024Exploring Large Language Model based Intelligent Agents: Definitions, Methods, and Prospectscited by 130
  6. 2025Advances and Challenges in Foundation Agents: From Brain-Inspired Intelligence to Evolutionary, Collaborative, and Safe Systemscited by 125
  7. 2025A Survey of Context Engineering for Large Language Modelscited by 120
  8. 2023Generative agent-based modeling with actions grounded in physical, social, or digital space using Concordiacited by 119
  9. 2024A Survey on Large Language Model-Based Game Agentscited by 106
  10. 2024From Individual to Society: A Survey on Social Simulation Driven by Large Language Model-based Agentscited by 76
  11. 2023LLM-Based Agent Society Investigation: Collaboration and Confrontation in Avalon Gameplaycited by 62
  12. 2024From Skepticism to Acceptance: Simulating the Attitude Dynamics Toward Fake Newscited by 51
37 more
  1. 2026A Survey of Agentic Reasoning for Large Language Models: Towards Recursively Self-Improving and Collective Agentscited by 47
  2. 2024Project Sid: Many-agent simulations toward AI civilizationcited by 46
  3. 2024KARMA: Augmenting Embodied AI Agents with Long-and-short Term Memory Systemscited by 38
  4. 2024Decoding Echo Chambers: LLM-Powered Simulations Revealing Polarization in Social Networkscited by 31
  5. 2023The Wisdom of Partisan Crowds: Comparing Collective Intelligence in Humans and LLM-based Agentscited by 30
  6. 2025The Truth Becomes Clearer Through Debate! Multi-Agent Systems with Large Language Models Unmask Fake Newscited by 29
  7. 2025Do Large Language Models Solve the Problems of Agent-Based Modeling? A Critical Review of Generative Social Simulationscited by 28
  8. 2024Large Language Models and Video Games: A Preliminary Scoping Reviewcited by 23
  9. 2024A Survey on Game Playing Agents and Large Models: Methods, Applications, and Challengescited by 22
  10. 2025Towards a Design Guideline for RPA Evaluation: A Survey of Large Language Model-Based Role-Playing Agentscited by 22
  11. 2025DSGBench: A Diverse Strategic Game Benchmark for Evaluating LLM-based Agents in Complex Decision-Making Environmentscited by 22
  12. 2025MobileSteward: Integrating Multiple App-Oriented Agents with Self-Evolution to Automate Cross-App Instructionscited by 16
  13. 2024What if LLMs Have Different World Views: Simulating Alien Civilizations with LLM-based Agentscited by 12
  14. 2023How Far Are LLMs from Believable AI? A Benchmark for Evaluating the Believability of Human Behavior Simulationcited by 11
  15. 2024MLLM as Retriever: Interactively Learning Multimodal Retrieval for Embodied Agentscited by 11
  16. 2026The Five Ws of Multi-Agent Communication: Who Talks to Whom, When, What, and Why -- A Survey from MARL to Emergent Language and LLMscited by 10
  17. 2024Affordable Generative Agentscited by 8
  18. 2025AnimeGamer: Infinite Anime Life Simulation with Next Game State Predictioncited by 7
  19. 2025MIRAGE: Exploring How Large Language Models Perform in Complex Social Interactive Environmentscited by 6
  20. 2025MobileCity: An Efficient Framework for Large-Scale Urban Behavior Simulationcited by 5
  21. 2025CREW-WILDFIRE: Benchmarking Agentic Multi-Agent Collaborations at Scalecited by 5
  22. 2025AgentBalance: Backbone-then-Topology Design for Cost-Effective Multi-Agent Systems under Budget Constraintscited by 3
  23. 2025Agent-based simulation of online social networks and disinformationcited by 3
  24. 2025Are Human Interactions Replicable by Generative Agents? A Case Study on Pronoun Usage in Hierarchical Interactionscited by 2
  25. 2025Infected Smallville: How Disease Threat Shapes Sociality in LLM Agentscited by 2
  26. 2025SimuPanel: A Novel Immersive Multi-Agent System to Simulate Interactive Expert Panel Discussioncited by 2
  27. 2025Static Sandboxes Are Inadequate: Modeling Societal Complexity Requires Open-Ended Co-Evolution in LLM-Based Multi-Agent Simulationscited by 2
  28. 2025HugAgent: A Human Simulation Benchmark for Individual-Level Reasoningcited by 2
  29. 2026ProMAS: Proactive Error Forecasting for Multi-Agent Systems Using Markov Transition Dynamicscited by 2
  30. 2024Text2Traj2Text: Learning-by-Synthesis Framework for Contextual Captioning of Human Movement Trajectoriescited by 1
  31. 2024Creative Agents: Simulating the Systems Model of Creativity with Generative Agentscited by 1
  32. 2025MemoCue: Empowering LLM-Based Agents for Human Memory Recall via Strategy-Guided Queryingcited by 1
  33. 2026ATOM: Instantiating Budget-Controllable Multi-Agent Collaboration via Nucleus-Electron Hierarchycited by 1
  34. 2024WiS Platform: Enhancing Evaluation of LLM-Based Multi-Agent Systems Through Game-Based Analysiscited by 0
  35. 2025StackPilot: Autonomous Function Agents for Scalable and Environment-Free Code Executioncited by 0
  36. 2025Evaluating Online Moderation Via LLM-Powered Counterfactual Simulationscited by 0
  37. 2026Mechanism Plausibility in Generative Agent-Based Modelingcited by 0

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2025Simulating Generative Social Agents via Theory-Informed Workflow Design
  2. 2024LMAgent: A Large-scale Multimodal Agents Society for Multi-user Simulation
  3. 2024AgentSense: Benchmarking Social Intelligence of Language Agents through Interactive Scenarios
  4. 2024Shall We Team Up: Exploring Spontaneous Cooperation of Competing LLM Agents
  5. 2026Social Gym and SPaRTan: Benchmarking and Improving LLM Social Reasoning via Multi-Agent Game Tournaments
  6. 2026MistyPilot: An Agentic Fast-Slow Thinking LLM Framework for Misty Social Robots
  7. 2026SocialGrid: A Benchmark for Planning and Social Reasoning in Embodied Multi-Agent Systems
  8. 2026Beyond Self-Interest: Modeling Social-Oriented Motivation for Human-like Multi-Agent Interactions