Social Networks of LLM Agents
On the map: LLM agents and tool use → Social simulation and multi-agent debate
Abstract (arXiv)
Large language model (LLM) agents are increasingly deployed in interacting populations, raising the question of what such populations come to believe collectively. Whether a population aggregates genuine knowledge or collapses into a false consensus directly affects how much such systems can be trusted. Classical social-network models assume that the network itself determines how beliefs combine. This assumption breaks down for LLM agents, whose limited attention takes in only part of what they are exposed to, so these models overstate how much information a population actually pools and cannot tell genuine consensus from herding. We introduce SNLA, a framework that models how much each agent actually influences others, rather than merely how the network connects them. This influence depends on each agent's position in the network and on how sharply attention focuses. Theoretically, we show on a tractable proxy that narrow attention causes herding, where the effective sample size stays bounded regardless of population size, while wide attention recovers wisdom-of-crowds behavior only when the exposure graph is undirected and degree-regular. Empirically, a controlled testbed validates these predictions directly, and the herding-wisdom transition reproduces on operator-controlled variants of three multi-agent LLM benchmarks.
Key facts. Cited by 2 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 26 of its 43 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 4 Jul 2026.
Builds on
26 of 43 references.
Closest ancestors · 7
Same direction, newest first
- 2025Herd Behavior: Investigating Peer Influence in LLM-based Multi-Agent Systems27 May
- 2025AgentSociety: Large-Scale Simulation of LLM-Driven Generative Agents Advances Understanding of Human Behaviors and Society12 Feb
- 2024Cooperate or Collapse: Emergence of Sustainable Cooperation in a Society of LLM Agents25 Apr
- 2024Systematic Biases in LLM Simulations of Debates6 Feb
- 2023Simulating Opinion Dynamics with Networks of LLM-based Agents16 Nov
- 2023Encouraging Divergent Thinking in Large Language Models through Multi-Agent Debate30 May
- 2023Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior7 Apr
Other references · 19
- 2024The Llama 3 Herd of Modelscited by 14,715
- 2017Outrageously Large Neural Networks: The Sparsely-Gated Mixture-of-Experts Layercited by 3,509
- 2021Switch Transformers: Scaling to Trillion Parameter Models with Simple and Efficient Sparsitycited by 3,073
- 2023AutoGen: Enabling Next-Gen LLM Applications via Multi-Agent Conversationcited by 1,988
- 2023MetaGPT: Meta Programming for A Multi-Agent Collaborative Frameworkcited by 1,808
- 2023Improving Factuality and Reasoning in Language Models through Multiagent Debatecited by 1,784
- 2023CAMEL: Communicative Agents for "Mind" Exploration of Large Language Model Societycited by 1,395
- 2023ChatDev: Communicative Agents for Software Developmentcited by 919
- 2024Large Language Model based Multi-Agents: A Survey of Progress and Challengescited by 769
- 2023ChatEval: Towards Better LLM-based Evaluators through Multi-Agent Debatecited by 742
- 2022Unified Scaling Laws for Routed Language Modelscited by 253
- 2023S3: Social-network Simulation System with Large Language Model-Empowered Agentscited by 233
7 more
- 2024Auxiliary-Loss-Free Load Balancing Strategy for Mixture-of-Expertscited by 205
- 2025MultiAgentBench: Evaluating the Collaboration and Competition of LLM agentscited by 178
- 2023Language Agents with Reinforcement Learning for Strategic Play in the Werewolf Gamecited by 152
- 2024MultiAgent Collaboration Attack: Investigating Adversarial Attacks in Large Language Model Collaborations via Debatecited by 56
- 2025AgentsNet: Coordination and Collaborative Reasoning in Multi-Agent LLMscited by 31
- 2024Network Formation and Dynamics Among Multi-LLMscited by 29
- 2017A Tutorial on Modeling and Analysis of Dynamic Social Networks. Part Icited by 15
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Citing papers per year: 2026: 2.
2 papers.
Similar, not cited
Close in wording, no citation either way
- 2026Belief Coevolution in a Social Network of Generalist and Specialist Large Language Models
- 2026Collective Opinion Dynamics in Structured LLM Populations
- 2026Conformity Dynamics in LLM Multi-Agent Systems: The Roles of Topology and Self-Social Weighting
- 2025Emergence of polarization in networks of large language model agents
- 2026LLMs Trust Their Own: Identity-Dependent Conformity in Multi-Agent Systems
- 2026Collective cooperation without individual fidelity in LLM agents
- 2026Population Physics, Population Problems: Safety and Emergence in LLM Societies
- 2026An Empirical Study of Collective Behaviors and Social Dynamics in Large Language Model Agents