# LLM-Based Multi-Agent Systems are Scalable Graph Generative Models

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.09824 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.09824/

## Key facts

- Cited by 11 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Social simulation and multi-agent debate, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use.
- Builds on 41 of its 76 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 13 Oct 2024.

## Placed in

- LLM agents and tool use / [Social simulation and multi-agent debate](https://mlsanity.com/agents/social-simulation-and-multi-agent-debate/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 41)

- [Sentence-BERT: Sentence Embeddings using Siamese BERT-Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.10084/) (2019)
- [Efficient Memory Management for Large Language Model Serving with PagedAttention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.06180/) (2023)
- [Reflexion: Language Agents with Verbal Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.11366/) (2023)
- [Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.03442/) (2023)
- [Junction Tree Variational Autoencoder for Molecular Graph Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.04364/) (2018)
- [DiGress: Discrete Denoising diffusion for graph generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.14734/) (2022)
- [Scaling Synthetic Data Creation with 1,000,000,000 Personas](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.20094/) (2024)
- [GraphRNN: Generating Realistic Graphs with Deep Auto-regressive Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.08773/) (2018)
- [MolGAN: An implicit generative model for small molecular graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.11973/) (2018)
- [GraphVAE: Towards Generation of Small Graphs Using Variational Autoencoders](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.03480/) (2018)
- [GraphAF: a Flow-based Autoregressive Model for Molecular Graph Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.09382/) (2020)
- [The Power of Noise: Redefining Retrieval for RAG Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.14887/) (2024)
- [Permutation Invariant Graph Generation via Score-Based Generative Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.00638/) (2020)
- [Large Language Models Empowered Agent-based Modeling and Simulation: A Survey and Perspectives](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.11970/) (2023)
- [Efficient Graph Generation with Graph Recurrent Attention Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.00760/) (2019)
- [Constrained Graph Variational Autoencoders for Molecule Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.09076/) (2018)
- [MoFlow: An Invertible Flow Model for Generating Molecular Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.10137/) (2020)
- [GraphDF: A Discrete Flow Model for Molecular Graph Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.01189/) (2021)
- [EconAgent: Large Language Model-Empowered Agents for Simulating Macroeconomic Activities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.10436/) (2023)
- [AgentScope: A Flexible yet Robust Multi-Agent Platform](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.14034/) (2024)
- [Graph Normalizing Flows](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.13177/) (2019)
- [SPECTRE: Spectral Conditioning Helps to Overcome the Expressivity Limits of One-shot Graph Generators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.01613/) (2022)
- [Exploring Chemical Space with Score-based Out-of-distribution Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.07632/) (2022)
- [GraphEBM: Molecular Graph Generation with Energy-Based Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.00546/) (2021)
- [MolecularRNN: Generating realistic molecular graphs with optimized properties](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.13372/) (2019)
- [Unveiling the Truth and Facilitating Change: Towards Agent-based Large-scale Social Movement Simulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.16333/) (2024)
- [Mol-CycleGAN - a generative model for molecular optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.02119/) (2019)
- [Scalable Deep Generative Modeling for Sparse Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.15502/) (2020)
- [Efficient and Scalable Graph Generation through Iterative Local Expansion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.11529/) (2023)
- [LLMs generate structurally realistic social networks but overestimate political homophily](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.16629/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 11 of 11)

- [Graphs Meet AI Agents: Taxonomy, Progress, and Future Opportunities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.18019/) (2025)
- [GraphMaster: Automated Graph Synthesis via LLM Agents in Data-Limited Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.00711/) (2025)
- [Learning Flexible Forward Trajectories for Masked Molecular Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.16790/) (2025)
- [A Survey on Evaluating Quality and Trustworthiness in LLM-Generated Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.17717/) (2026)
- [Exploring the Potential of Large Language Models as Predictors in Dynamic Text-Attributed Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.03258/) (2025)
- [GDGB: A Benchmark for Generative Dynamic Text-Attributed Graph Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.03267/) (2025)
- [LLMs are Introvert](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.05638/) (2025)
- [From Who They Are to How They Act: Behavioral Traits in Generative Agent-Based Models of Social Media](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.15114/) (2026)
- [Large language models for spreading dynamics in complex systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.08085/) (2026)
- [Can LLM Agents Simulate Dynamic Networks? A Case Study on Email Networks with Phishing Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.12507/) (2026)
- [LLMs for Social Network Modeling: From Network Generation to Dynamic Processes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.08049/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The structural properties of naturally arising social graphs are extensively studied to understand their evolution. Prior approaches for modeling network dynamics typically rely on rule-based models, which lack realism and generalizability, or deep learning-based models, which require large-scale training datasets. Social graphs, as abstract graph representations of entity-wise interactions, present an opportunity to explore network evolution mechanisms through realistic simulations of human-item interactions. Leveraging the pre-trained social consensus knowledge embedded in large language models (LLMs), we present GraphAgent-Generator (GAG), a novel simulation-based framework for dynamic, text-attributed social graph generation. GAG simulates the temporal node and edge generation processes for zero-shot social graph generation. The resulting graphs exhibit adherence to seven key macroscopic network properties, achieving an 11% improvement in microscopic graph structure metrics. Through the node classification benchmarking task, we validate GAG effectively captures the intricate text-structure correlations in graph generation. Furthermore, GAG supports generating graphs with up to nearly 100,000 nodes or 10 million edges through large-scale LLM-based agent simulation with parallel acceleration, achieving a minimum speed-up of 90.4%. The source code is available at https://github.com/Ji-Cather/GraphAgent.