AgentsApril 7, 2023Stanford University / Google DeepMind

Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior

Joon Sung Park, Joseph C. O'Brien, Carrie J. Cai, Meredith Ringel Morris, Percy Liang, Michael S. Bernstein

Abstract

We introduce generative agents — computational software agents that simulate believable human behavior. Generative agents wake up, cook breakfast, head to work, paint, write, form opinions, notice each other, and initiate conversations. We describe an architecture that extends a large language model to store a complete record of the agent's experiences, synthesize those memories into higher-level reflections, and retrieve them dynamically to plan behavior.

Key Findings

  • 1Created believable simulations of human behavior using LLM-based agents
  • 2Introduced memory, reflection, and planning architectures for AI agents
  • 3Demonstrated emergent social behaviors in a simulated town of 25 agents
  • 4Showed agents forming relationships, spreading information, and coordinating
  • 5Established a framework for memory-augmented autonomous agents

Impact & Significance

This paper captured public imagination about AI agent capabilities and provided architectural patterns (memory, reflection, planning) that became standard in AI agent frameworks like AutoGPT, CrewAI, and LangGraph.

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