Physics of Agents: Statistical Mechanics Predicts Collective Behavior of AI Agents

TL;DR - A study of 10,000+ language-model agent communities finds that their opinion dynamics follow three regimes—indifference, polarization, and consensus—and can be predicted using statistical mechanics. The framework helps explain when multi-agent communication improves accuracy or amplifies social and political biases.

• Communication increased collective accuracy on objective mathematics questions but often shifted opinions rightward on subjective political statements.
• Agents began relatively indifferent and developed stronger convictions through repeated interaction.
• A statistical-mechanics model predicted individual trajectories, generalized to unseen community graphs, and outperformed standard baselines.
• Fitted parameters suggest consensus arises because attractive ties dominate, while stronger influence from correct agents supports truth-seeking.