mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

A Survey on Large Language Model-based Agents for Statistics and Data Science

arXiv 2412.14222 ↗First posted 18 Dec 2024cs.AI cs.CL cs.LGcited by 22

On the map: LLM agents and tool use → Web, search, and research agents

Abstract (arXiv)

In recent years, data science agents powered by Large Language Models (LLMs), known as "data agents," have shown significant potential to transform the traditional data analysis paradigm. This survey provides an overview of the evolution, capabilities, and applications of LLM-based data agents, highlighting their role in simplifying complex data tasks and lowering the entry barrier for users without related expertise. We explore current trends in the design of LLM-based frameworks, detailing essential features such as planning, reasoning, reflection, multi-agent collaboration, user interface, knowledge integration, and system design, which enable agents to address data-centric problems with minimal human intervention. Furthermore, we analyze several case studies to demonstrate the practical applications of various data agents in real-world scenarios. Finally, we identify key challenges and propose future research directions to advance the development of data agents into intelligent statistical analysis software.

Key facts. Cited by 22 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Web, search, and research agents, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 45 of its 72 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 18 Dec 2024.

Builds on

45 of 72 references.

Closest ancestors · 7

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2024LAMBDA: A Large Model Based Data Agent24 Jul
  2. 2024Spider2-V: How Far Are Multimodal Agents From Automating Data Science and Engineering Workflows?15 Jul
  3. 2024Data Interpreter: An LLM Agent For Data Science28 Feb
  4. 2024DS-Agent: Automated Data Science by Empowering Large Language Models with Case-Based Reasoning27 Feb
  5. 2024InfiAgent-DABench: Evaluating Agents on Data Analysis Tasks10 Jan
  6. 2023TaskWeaver: A Code-First Agent Framework29 Nov
  7. 2023MLAgentBench: Evaluating Language Agents on Machine Learning Experimentation5 Oct

Other references · 38

  1. 2023GPT-4 Technical Reportcited by 18,132
  2. 2022Chain-of-Thought Prompting Elicits Reasoning in Large Language Modelscited by 12,302
  3. 2020Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Knowledge-Intensive NLP Taskscited by 9,160
  4. 2022ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Modelscited by 8,355
  5. 2023Tree of Thoughts: Deliberate Problem Solving with Large Language Modelscited by 3,155
  6. 2023The Rise and Potential of Large Language Model Based Agents: A Surveycited by 1,422
  7. 2023HuggingGPT: Solving AI Tasks with ChatGPT and its Friends in Hugging Facecited by 1,173
  8. 2024ChatGLM: A Family of Large Language Models from GLM-130B to GLM-4 All Toolscited by 1,096
  9. 2023Graph of Thoughts: Solving Elaborate Problems with Large Language Modelscited by 873
  10. 2024Executable Code Actions Elicit Better LLM Agentscited by 537
  11. 2022DS-1000: A Natural and Reliable Benchmark for Data Science Code Generationcited by 442
  12. 2024Understanding the planning of LLM agents: A surveycited by 414
26 more
  1. 2023Mathematical Capabilities of ChatGPTcited by 263
  2. 2024UFO: A UI-Focused Agent for Windows OS Interactioncited by 147
  3. 2023OpenAgents: An Open Platform for Language Agents in the Wildcited by 136
  4. 2024Exploring Large Language Model based Intelligent Agents: Definitions, Methods, and Prospectscited by 130
  5. 2024MatPlotAgent: Method and Evaluation for LLM-Based Agentic Scientific Data Visualizationcited by 98
  6. 2024AutoML-Agent: A Multi-Agent LLM Framework for Full-Pipeline AutoMLcited by 84
  7. 2023Data-Copilot: Bridging Billions of Data and Humans with Autonomous Workflowcited by 76
  8. 2024AutoKaggle: A Multi-Agent Framework for Autonomous Data Science Competitionscited by 70
  9. 2023Is GPT-4 a Good Data Analyst?cited by 69
  10. 2023MLCopilot: Unleashing the Power of Large Language Models in Solving Machine Learning Taskscited by 66
  11. 2021Incorporating Domain Knowledge into Deep Neural Networkscited by 56
  12. 2024WaitGPT: Monitoring and Steering Conversational LLM Agent in Data Analysis with On-the-Fly Code Visualizationcited by 38
  13. 2023LLMs for Science: Usage for Code Generation and Data Analysiscited by 34
  14. 2022Training and Evaluating a Jupyter Notebook Data Science Assistantcited by 31
  15. 2024CMAT: A Multi-Agent Collaboration Tuning Framework for Enhancing Small Language Modelscited by 26
  16. 2024SELA: Tree-Search Enhanced LLM Agents for Automated Machine Learningcited by 23
  17. 2023ChatGPT as your Personal Data Scientistcited by 22
  18. 2024Data Formulator 2: Iterative Creation of Data Visualizations, with AI Transforming Data Along the Waycited by 19
  19. 2024Human-centric Reward Optimization for Reinforcement Learning-based Automated Driving using Large Language Modelscited by 14
  20. 2023What Should Data Science Education Do with Large Language Models?cited by 13
  21. 2024AutoM3L: An Automated Multimodal Machine Learning Framework with Large Language Modelscited by 13
  22. 2023SEED: Domain-Specific Data Curation With Large Language Modelscited by 10
  23. 2023JarviX: A LLM No code Platform for Tabular Data Analysis and Optimizationcited by 10
  24. 2024LLM-Enhanced Data Managementcited by 7
  25. 2024Data Analysis in the Era of Generative AIcited by 6
  26. 2020Data Science: Challenges and Directionscited by 3

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2024: 1; 2025: 11; 2026: 10.

22 papers.

Sort:

By area:

  1. 2025DeepAnalyze: Agentic Large Language Models for Autonomous Data Sciencecited by 49
  2. 2025A Survey of Data Agents: Emerging Paradigm or Overstated Hype?cited by 30
  3. 2025SciSciGPT: Advancing Human-AI Collaboration in the Science of Sciencecited by 26
  4. 2025Large Language Model-based Data Science Agent: A Surveycited by 22
  5. 2026DSGym: A Holistic Framework for Evaluating and Training Data Science Agentscited by 14
  6. 2026Read the Paper, Write the Code: Agentic Reproduction of Social-Science Resultscited by 5
  7. 2025Measuring Data Science Automation: A Survey of Evaluation Tools for AI Assistants and Agentscited by 4
  8. 2026Deep Tabular Research via Continual Experience-Driven Executioncited by 4
  9. 2025Automated Model Discovery via Multi-modal & Multi-step Pipelinecited by 3
  10. 2025Democracy-in-Silico: Institutional Design as Alignment in AI-Governed Politiescited by 2
  11. 2026EvoDS: Self-Evolving Autonomous Data Science Agent with Skill Learning and Context Managementcited by 2
  12. 2025A Multi-Agent System for Complex Reasoning in Radiology Visual Question Answeringcited by 1
10 more
  1. 2025Context-Adaptive Synthesis and Compression for Enhanced Retrieval-Augmented Generation in Complex Domainscited by 1
  2. 2026DARE: Aligning LLM Agents with the R Statistical Ecosystem via Distribution-Aware Retrievalcited by 1
  3. 2026VESTA: Visual Exploration with Statistical Tool Agentscited by 1
  4. 2024Towards Strong AI: Transformational Beliefs and Scientific Creativitycited by 0
  5. 2025Agentomics-ML: Autonomous Machine Learning Experimentation Agent for Genomic and Transcriptomic Datacited by 0
  6. 2025Semantic-Enhanced Cross-Modal Place Recognition for Robust Robot Localizationcited by 0
  7. 2026Towards automated data analysis: A guided framework for LLM-based risk estimationcited by 0
  8. 2026Building AI That Works: ESnet's Pragmatic Approach to AI-Driven Operational Excellencecited by 0
  9. 2026Skill-based Agentic Evaluation for Real-time Data Science Taskscited by 0
  10. 2026Towards Reliable AI Data Scientists: Data Agents with Workflow Harnessescited by 0

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2025LLM-Based Data Science Agents: A Survey of Capabilities, Challenges, and Future Directions
  2. 2025LLM/Agent-as-Data-Analyst: A Survey
  3. 2025Towards Scientific Intelligence: A Survey of LLM-based Scientific Agents
  4. 2025IDA-Bench: Evaluating LLMs on Interactive Guided Data Analysis
  5. 2024Benchmarking Data Science Agents
  6. 2026AgenticDataBench: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Data Agents
  7. 2025LLM-Based Multi-Agent Blackboard System for Information Discovery in Data Science
  8. 2025DatawiseAgent: A Notebook-Centric LLM Agent Framework for Adaptive and Robust Data Science Automation