arXiv:2601.12307cs.MAcs.CL2026-01被引 17

单个大模型可媲美多智能体系统,且更高效

Rethinking the Value of Multi-Agent Workflow: A Strong Single Agent Baseline

  • 用单轮对话模拟多智能体协作流程,避免重复计算
  • 在7个基准上性能持平甚至超越多智能体系统
  • 适合追求高效部署的研究者和开发者

近期基于大语言模型的多智能体系统(MAS)显示,由不同角色、工具和通信模式组成的多智能体工作流可在复杂任务上超越单模型基线。然而,多数框架为同质化设计,所有智能体共享相同基础模型,仅通过提示词、工具和流程位置区分。这引发疑问:此类工作流能否通过单个智能体的多轮对话实现?我们在涵盖编程、数学、通用问答、领域推理及真实世界规划与工具使用的七个基准上进行了研究。结果表明,单个智能体可通过重用键值缓存(KV cache)实现与同质化工作流相当的性能,并能匹配自动优化的异质化工作流表现。基于此,我们提出OneFlow算法,可自动为单智能体执行定制工作流,在不牺牲准确率的前提下降低推理成本。这些发现将单模型实现的多智能体工作流确立为多智能体研究的强有力基线。同时指出,单模型方法无法捕捉真正异质化工作流,因跨不同模型缺乏缓存共享,凸显未来构建真正异质多智能体系统的机遇。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Recent advances in LLM-based multi-agent systems (MAS) show that workflows composed of multiple LLM agents with distinct roles, tools, and communication patterns can outperform single-LLM baselines on complex tasks. However, most frameworks are homogeneous, where all agents share the same base LLM and differ only in prompts, tools, and positions in the workflow. This raises the question of whether such workflows can be simulated by a single agent through multi-turn conversations. We investigate this across seven benchmarks spanning coding, mathematics, general question answering, domain-specific reasoning, and real-world planning and tool use. Our results show that a single agent can reach the performance of homogeneous workflows with an efficiency advantage from KV cache reuse, and can even match the performance of an automatically optimized heterogeneous workflow. Building on this finding, we propose \textbf{OneFlow}, an algorithm that automatically tailors workflows for single-agent execution, reducing inference costs compared to existing automatic multi-agent design frameworks without trading off accuracy. These results position the single-LLM implementation of multi-agent workflows as a strong baseline for MAS research. We also note that single-LLM methods cannot capture heterogeneous workflows due to the lack of KV cache sharing across different LLMs, highlighting future opportunities in developing \textit{truly} heterogeneous multi-agent systems.

多智能体单模型效率优化推理成本

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