mlsanityData to 13 Oct 2026

Large Language Models Empowered Agent-based Modeling and Simulation: A Survey and Perspectives

arXiv 2312.11970 ↗First posted 19 Dec 2023cs.AI cs.CL cs.CYcited by 255

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

Abstract (arXiv)

Agent-based modeling and simulation has evolved as a powerful tool for modeling complex systems, offering insights into emergent behaviors and interactions among diverse agents. Integrating large language models into agent-based modeling and simulation presents a promising avenue for enhancing simulation capabilities. This paper surveys the landscape of utilizing large language models in agent-based modeling and simulation, examining their challenges and promising future directions. In this survey, since this is an interdisciplinary field, we first introduce the background of agent-based modeling and simulation and large language model-empowered agents. We then discuss the motivation for applying large language models to agent-based simulation and systematically analyze the challenges in environment perception, human alignment, action generation, and evaluation. Most importantly, we provide a comprehensive overview of the recent works of large language model-empowered agent-based modeling and simulation in multiple scenarios, which can be divided into four domains: cyber, physical, social, and hybrid, covering simulation of both real-world and virtual environments. Finally, since this area is new and quickly evolving, we discuss the open problems and promising future directions.

Key facts. Cited by 255 papers in the map (data through 13 Oct 2026). Placed in General LLM agent frameworks and benchmarks, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 111 of its 258 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 19 Dec 2023.

Builds on

111 of 258 references.

Closest ancestors · 14

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2023SOTOPIA: Interactive Evaluation for Social Intelligence in Language Agents18 Oct
  2. 2023ChoiceMates: Supporting Unfamiliar Online Decision-Making with Multi-Agent Conversational Interactions2 Oct
  3. 2023The Rise and Potential of Large Language Model Based Agents: A Survey14 Sep
  4. 2023ModelScope-Agent: Building Your Customizable Agent System with Open-source Large Language Models2 Sep
  5. 2023A Survey on Large Language Model based Autonomous Agents22 Aug
  6. 2023AgentVerse: Facilitating Multi-Agent Collaboration and Exploring Emergent Behaviors21 Aug
  7. 2023ChatEval: Towards Better LLM-based Evaluators through Multi-Agent Debate14 Aug
  8. 2023AgentBench: Evaluating LLMs as Agents7 Aug
  9. 2023MetaGPT: Meta Programming for A Multi-Agent Collaborative Framework1 Aug
  10. 2023The SocialAI School: Insights from Developmental Psychology Towards Artificial Socio-Cultural Agents15 Jul
  11. 2023Unleashing the Emergent Cognitive Synergy in Large Language Models: A Task-Solving Agent through Multi-Persona Self-Collaboration11 Jul
  12. 2023Building Cooperative Embodied Agents Modularly with Large Language Models5 Jul
2 more
  1. 2023AdaPlanner: Adaptive Planning from Feedback with Language Models26 May
  2. 2023CAMEL: Communicative Agents for "Mind" Exploration of Large Language Model Society31 Mar

Other references · 97

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38 more
  1. 2023MiniGPT-4: Enhancing Vision-Language Understanding with Advanced Large Language Modelscited by 2,703
  2. 2023A Survey of Large Language Modelscited by 2,559
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  19. 2022LLM-Planner: Few-Shot Grounded Planning for Embodied Agents with Large Language Modelscited by 461
  20. 2023Benchmarking Large Language Models for News Summarizationcited by 444
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  33. 2023Personalized Soups: Personalized Large Language Model Alignment via Post-hoc Parameter Mergingcited by 275
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  35. 2023Certifying LLM Safety against Adversarial Promptingcited by 263
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  38. 2023Exploring Collaboration Mechanisms for LLM Agents: A Social Psychology Viewcited by 222

50 most cited of 97 All 97 (JSON)

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Cited by year (2026 to 13 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2023: 1; 2024: 45; 2025: 118; 2026: 91.

255 papers.

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  1. 2025Multi-Agent Collaboration Mechanisms: A Survey of LLMscited by 426
  2. 2025Survey on Evaluation of LLM-based Agentscited by 200
  3. 2025AgentSociety: Large-Scale Simulation of LLM-Driven Generative Agents Advances Understanding of Human Behaviors and Societycited by 183
  4. 2024Understanding World or Predicting Future? A Comprehensive Survey of World Modelscited by 161
  5. 2024Cut the Crap: An Economical Communication Pipeline for LLM-based Multi-Agent Systemscited by 136
  6. 2024Cooperate or Collapse: Emergence of Sustainable Cooperation in a Society of LLM Agentscited by 122
  7. 2025G-Memory: Tracing Hierarchical Memory for Multi-Agent Systemscited by 117
  8. 2024G-Designer: Architecting Multi-agent Communication Topologies via Graph Neural Networkscited by 113
  9. 2024AgentOccam: A Simple Yet Strong Baseline for LLM-Based Web Agentscited by 112
  10. 2024A Survey on Large Language Model-Based Game Agentscited by 111
  11. 2024Large Language Models as Urban Residents: An LLM Agent Framework for Personal Mobility Generationcited by 99
  12. 2024LLM as a Mastermind: A Survey of Strategic Reasoning with Large Language Modelscited by 98
38 more
  1. 2024From Individual to Society: A Survey on Social Simulation Driven by Large Language Model-based Agentscited by 81
  2. 2024Can Large Language Model Agents Simulate Human Trust Behavior?cited by 64
  3. 2024A Survey on LLM-based Multi-Agent System: Recent Advances and New Frontiers in Applicationcited by 54
  4. 2025SocioVerse: A World Model for Social Simulation Powered by LLM Agents and A Pool of 10 Million Real-World Userscited by 54
  5. 2024GenSim: A General Social Simulation Platform with Large Language Model based Agentscited by 50
  6. 2024BIG5-CHAT: Shaping LLM Personalities Through Training on Human-Grounded Datacited by 49
  7. 2024Shall We Team Up: Exploring Spontaneous Cooperation of Competing LLM Agentscited by 48
  8. 2024ALI-Agent: Assessing LLMs' Alignment with Human Values via Agent-based Evaluationcited by 47
  9. 2024Self-Alignment of Large Language Models via Monopolylogue-based Social Scene Simulationcited by 46
  10. 2024Modular RAG: Transforming RAG Systems into LEGO-like Reconfigurable Frameworkscited by 41
  11. 2024FinRobot: An Open-Source AI Agent Platform for Financial Applications using Large Language Modelscited by 39
  12. 2024ElectionSim: Massive Population Election Simulation Powered by Large Language Model Driven Agentscited by 35
  13. 2025Position: Multimodal Large Language Models Can Significantly Advance Scientific Reasoningcited by 33
  14. 2025A Survey of Large Language Model Empowered Agents for Recommendation and Search: Towards Next-Generation Information Retrievalcited by 32
  15. 2025From Language to Action: A Review of Large Language Models as Autonomous Agents and Tool Userscited by 32
  16. 2024Exploring Autonomous Agents through the Lens of Large Language Models: A Reviewcited by 31
  17. 2025Linear Representations of Political Perspective Emerge in Large Language Modelscited by 31
  18. 2025Actions Speak Louder than Words: Agent Decisions Reveal Implicit Biases in Language Modelscited by 30
  19. 2025CitySim: Modeling Urban Behaviors and City Dynamics with Large-Scale LLM-Driven Agent Simulationcited by 28
  20. 2024Planning with Multi-Constraints via Collaborative Language Agentscited by 26
  21. 2024Social Science Meets LLMs: How Reliable Are Large Language Models in Social Simulations?cited by 26
  22. 2025Exploring the Roles of Large Language Models in Reshaping Transportation Systems: A Survey, Framework, and Roadmapcited by 26
  23. 2024Aviary: training language agents on challenging scientific taskscited by 25
  24. 2025Learn to Memorize: Optimizing LLM-based Agents with Adaptive Memory Frameworkcited by 25
  25. 2025GitTaskBench: A Benchmark for Code Agents Solving Real-World Tasks Through Code Repository Leveragingcited by 25
  26. 2024Large Language Models for Manufacturingcited by 24
  27. 2025Will Systems of LLM Agents Cooperate: An Investigation into a Social Dilemmacited by 24
  28. 2025Foundation Models for Spatio-Temporal Data Science: A Tutorial and Surveycited by 24
  29. 2025Creativity in LLM-based Multi-Agent Systems: A Surveycited by 23
  30. 2024Depression Detection on Social Media with Large Language Modelscited by 20
  31. 2024Surveying the MLLM Landscape: A Meta-Review of Current Surveyscited by 20
  32. 2025Let the Trial Begin: A Mock-Court Approach to Vulnerability Detection using LLM-Based Agentscited by 20
  33. 2024ValueBench: Towards Comprehensively Evaluating Value Orientations and Understanding of Large Language Modelscited by 19
  34. 2024Toward LLM-Agent-Based Modeling of Transportation Systems: A Conceptual Frameworkcited by 19
  35. 2025AgentA/B: Automated and Scalable Web A/BTesting with Interactive LLM Agentscited by 19
  36. 2025MiLA: Multi-view Intensive-fidelity Long-term Video Generation World Model for Autonomous Drivingcited by 18
  37. 2025Valid Survey Simulations with Limited Human Data: The Roles of Prompting, Fine-Tuning, and Rectificationcited by 18
  38. 2025Talk Structurally, Act Hierarchically: A Collaborative Framework for LLM Multi-Agent Systemscited by 17

50 most cited of 255 All 255 (JSON)

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