研究大模型智能体系统如何随智能体数量变化,发现并非越多越好。
Scaling Behavior of Single LLM-Driven Multi-Agent Systems

- 设计简洁的串行通信框架,隔离协作与模型差异的影响。
- 性能随智能体增加先升后降,存在收益递减拐点。
- 适合想优化多智能体协作效率的研究者或工程师。
基于大语言模型的多智能体系统(MAS)有望通过协同智能解决复杂任务,但其扩展行为与内在集体动态仍缺乏深入探索。本文系统研究了同质化MAS在智能体数量增加时的性能演化规律,分离了协作与模型或知识异质性的影响。提出一种极简的串行迭代多智能体系统(SIMAS)框架,聚焦于序列化智能体间通信,以清晰观测扩展效应。在多种任务和模型规模下进行大量实验,发现MAS性能不随智能体数量单调上升,而是呈现收益递减模式,由协作协同效应与协调开销之间的权衡决定。研究揭示:有效系统需具备足够能力的基础大模型,任务类型显著影响最优智能体数量,集体智能是依赖战略交互设计的涌现属性而非智能体数量的必然结果。性能下降主要源于协调开销,而非长上下文失败;该扩展趋势在结构化辩论拓扑等不同交互架构中具有普适性。本工作为多智能体系统的扩展规律提供了基础理解,为设计高效协作系统提供实践指导,并挑战了‘更多智能体必然更好’的普遍假设。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
The burgeoning field of LLM-based Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) promises to tackle complex tasks through collaborative intelligence, yet fundamental questions regarding their scaling behavior and intrinsic collective dynamics remain underexplored. This paper systematically investigates how the performance of a homogeneous MAS evolves as the number of agents increases, isolating the variable of collaboration from model or knowledge heterogeneity. We propose the Sequential Iterative Multi-Agent System (SIMAS) framework, a minimalist architecture centered on sequential inter-agent communication, to clearly observe scaling effects. Through extensive experiments across diverse tasks and model scales, we establish that MAS performance does not scale monotonically with agent count but follows a pattern of diminishing returns, governed by a trade-off between collaborative synergy and coordination overhead. Our findings reveal that effective MAS requires a sufficiently capable base LLM, that task type critically modulates the optimal agent count, and that collective intelligence is an emergent property contingent on strategic interaction design rather than a guaranteed outcome of agent plurality. The performance degradation stems coordination overhead rather than merely long-context failure, and the scaling tendency generalizes across interaction architectures like structured debate topologies. This work provides a foundational understanding of MAS scaling laws, offering practical guidance for designing efficient collaborative systems and challenging the prevailing assumption that more agents invariably lead to better performance.
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