Multi-Agent Communication

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Overview

Multi-agent communication examines how agents share information, form common beliefs, and coordinate actions when each may have only a partial view of a task. Approaches include learned signaling in decentralized reinforcement learning, graph-based routing and debate among language-model agents, and compact symbolic or latent messages designed to reduce bandwidth and latency. Researchers evaluate these methods in settings such as cooperative navigation, StarCraft, reasoning and coding tasks, and embodied collaboration with limited or unreliable communication. A central tension is that messages can reveal information teammates need, but added communication can also create overhead, spread errors, reduce diversity, or expose systems to attacks.

Latest papers

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380 papers65 papers in the last four weeks, up 59% on the four weeks before. 0.4% of all new papers.

  1. CBCL: Safe Self-Extending Agent Communication

    Apr 16, 2026Hugo O'ConnorAgent Communication ProtocolsAI Agent Safety

    Anuna Research

  2. When Less Latent Leads to Better Relay: Information-Preserving Compression for Latent Multi-Agent LLM Collaboration

    Apr 14, 2026Yiping Li, Zhiyu An, Wan DuLLM CompressionKV Caching

    Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California, Merced, Merced, CA 95343

  3. CIA: Inferring the Communication Topology from LLM-based Multi-Agent Systems

    Apr 14, 2026Yongxuan Wu, Xixun Lin, He Zhang +5Multi-Agent System SecurityMulti-Agent LLM Systems

    Institute of Information Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China · School of Cyber Security, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China · Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia +2

  4. Modality-Native Routing in Agent-to-Agent Networks: A Multimodal A2A Protocol Extension

    Apr 14, 2026Vasundra SrinivasanMulti-Agent CommunicationMultimodal Model Routing

    AI Architect, Author—Data Engineering for Multimodal AI (O’Reilly), Stanford School of Engineering

  5. Cooperation in Human and Machine Agents: Promise Theory Considerations

    Apr 12, 2026M. BurgessMulti-Agent CollaborationHuman-AI Collaboration

    ChiTek-i AS

  6. PRoID: Predicted Rate of Information Delivery in Multi-Robot Exploration and Relaying

    Apr 12, 2026Seungchan Kim, Seungjae Baek, Micah Corah +3Multi-Robot ExplorationMulti-Robot Coordination

    Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute · Ulsan National Institute of Science & Technology · Colorado School of Mines +2

  7. Semantic Rate-Distortion for Bounded Multi-Agent Communication: Capacity-Derived Semantic Spaces and the Communication Cost of Alignment

    Apr 10, 2026Anthony T. NixonMulti-Agent CommunicationTask-Oriented Semantic Communication

  8. Multi-Agent Decision-Focused Learning via Value-Aware Sequential Communication

    Apr 10, 2026Benjamin Amoh, Geoffrey Parker, Wesley MarreroMulti-Agent CoordinationMulti-Agent Communication

    Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College

  9. Semantic Channel Theory: Deductive Compression and Structural Fidelity for Multi-Agent Communication

    Apr 10, 2026Jianfeng XuSemantic CommunicationInformation-Theoretic Lower Bounds

    Koguan School of Law, China Institute for Smart Justice, School of Computer Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China

  10. Wireless Communication Enhanced Value Decomposition for Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

    Apr 9, 2026Diyi Hu, Bhaskar KrishnamachariMulti-Agent Reinforcement LearningCooperative MARL

    University of Southern California

  11. ACF: A Collaborative Framework for Agent Covert Communication under Cognitive Asymmetry

    Apr 9, 2026Wansheng Wu, Kaibo Huang, Yukun Wei +2Multi-Agent Communication

    School of Cyberspace Security, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China

  12. More Capable, Less Cooperative? When LLMs Fail At Zero-Cost Collaboration

    Apr 9, 2026Advait Yadav, Sid Black, Oliver SourbutMulti-Agent CoordinationMulti-Agent Collaboration

    MATS · University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · UK AI Security Institute +1

  13. Robust Multi-Agent Target Tracking in Intermittent Communication Environments via Analytical Belief Merging

    Apr 8, 2026Mohamed Abdelnaby, Samuel Honor, Kevin LeahyKullback-Leibler DivergenceMulti-Agent Systems

    Department of Robotics Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Worcester, MA 01609, USA.

  14. Learning to Interrupt in Language-based Multi-agent Communication

    Apr 7, 2026Danqing Wang, Da Yin, Ruta Desai +3Multi-Agent CommunicationMulti-Agent LLMs

    CMU · Meta FAIR

  15. Cayley Graph Optimization for Scalable Multi-Agent Communication Topologies

    Apr 7, 2026Jingkai Luo, Yulin ShaoCommunication Topology OptimizationMulti-Agent Communication Topology

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

  16. Undetectable Conversations Between AI Agents via Pseudorandom Noise-Resilient Key Exchange

    Apr 6, 2026Vinod Vaikuntanathan, Or ZamirLanguage Model SteganographyAI Agent Security

    MIT · Tel Aviv University

  17. Symbolic-Vector Attention Fusion for Collective Intelligence

    Apr 5, 2026Hongwei XuMulti-Agent CollaborationMulti-Agent Communication

  18. Communication Gain and Delay Cost Under Cross-Timestep Delays in Cooperative Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

    Apr 4, 2026Zihong Gao, Hongjian Liang, Lei Hao +1Partially Observable Markov Decision ProcessesMulti-Agent Communication

    The State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering School of Automation Science and Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University

  19. Scaling Multi-agent Systems: A Smart Middleware for Improving Agent Interactions

    Apr 3, 2026Charles Fleming, Guillaume De Saint Marc, Ramana Kompella +2Multi-Agent LLM SystemsMulti-Agent Systems

    Cisco Research

  20. Agentic AI-Empowered Wireless Agent Networks With Semantic-Aware Collaboration via ILAC

    Apr 1, 2026Zhouxiang Zhao, Jiaxiang Wang, Zhaohui Yang +4Wireless CommunicationsMulti-Agent Communication

    College of Information Science and Electronic Engineering, Zhejiang University, and also with Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Info. Proc., Commun. & Netw. (IPCAN), Hangzhou 310027, China · Department of Engineering, King’s College London, London, WC2R 2LS, UK · Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Institute for Data Science and Computing, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33146, USA +1

  21. CASCADE: Cascaded Scoped Communication for Multi-Agent Re-planning in Disrupted Industrial Environments

    Apr 1, 2026Mingjie BiMulti-Agent CoordinationMulti-Agent Planning

    State Key Laboratory of General Artificial Intelligence, Beijing Institute for General Artificial Intelligence (BIGAI), Beijing, China

  22. Agent Q-Mix: Selecting the Right Action for LLM Multi-Agent Systems through Reinforcement Learning

    Apr 1, 2026Eric Hanchen Jiang, Levina Li, Rui Sun +9Multi-Agent Communication TopologyMulti-Agent Reasoning

    University of California Los Angeles · University of Washington · Northwestern University

  23. SNEAK: Evaluating Strategic Communication and Information Leakage in Large Language Models

    Mar 31, 2026Adar Avsian, Larry HeckMulti-Agent CommunicationPrivacy Leakage in Language Models

    Georgia Institute of Technology

  24. Beyond Message Passing: A Semantic View of Agent Communication Protocols

    Mar 30, 2026Dun Yuan, Fuyuan Lyu, Ye Yuan +11Agent Communication ProtocolsMulti-Agent Communication

  25. The impact of multi-agent debate protocols on debate quality: a controlled case study

    Mar 28, 2026Ramtin Zargari MarandiMulti-Agent DebateMulti-Agent Communication

  26. On the Reliability Limits of LLM-Based Multi-Agent Planning

    Mar 27, 2026Ruicheng Ao, Siyang Gao, David Simchi-LeviLLM Agent ReliabilityMulti-Agent LLM Systems

    Operations Research Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139. · Department of Systems Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. · Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139. +1

  27. Deception and Communication in Autonomous Multi-Agent Systems: An Experimental Study with Among Us

    Mar 27, 2026Maria Milkowski, Tim WeningerDeception in Language ModelsMulti-Agent Communication

    University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, United States

  28. CRAFT: Grounded Multi-Agent Coordination Under Partial Information

    Mar 26, 2026Abhijnan Nath, Hannah VanderHoeven, Nikhil KrishnaswamyMulti-Agent CoordinationMulti-Agent Communication

    Situated Grounding and Natural Language (SIGNAL) Lab∗ Department of Computer Science, Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 80523 USA

  29. When Is Collective Intelligence a Lottery? Multi-Agent Scaling Laws for Memetic Drift in LLMs

    Mar 25, 2026Hidenori TanakaMulti-Agent SystemsMulti-Agent Consensus

    CBS–NTT Program in Physics of Intelligence, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University · Physics of Artificial Intelligence Group, NTT Research, Inc.

  30. Beyond Preset Identities: Selective Stance Accommodation and Interaction Reorganisation in Generative Agent Societies

    Mar 24, 2026Hanzhong Zhang, Siyang Song, Lu Liu +1Large Language Model-Based Social SimulationMulti-Agent Communication

    Department of Computer Science, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom · Department of Data Science, William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, United States