Evaluating LLM Agent Collusion in Double Auctions
Large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated impressive capabilities as autonomous agents with rapidly expanding applications in various domains. As these agents increasingly engage in socioeconomic interactions, identifying their potential for undesirable behavior becomes essential. In this work, we examine scenarios where they can choose to collude, defined as secretive cooperation that harms another party. To systematically study this, we investigate the behavior of LLM agents acting as sellers in simulated continuous double auction markets. Through a series of controlled experiments, we analyze how parameters such as the ability to communicate, choice of model, and presence of environmental pressures affect the stability and emergence of seller collusion. We find that direct seller communication increases collusive tendencies, the propensity to collude varies across models, and environmental pressures, such as oversight and urgency from authority figures, influence collusive behavior. Our findings highlight important economic and ethical considerations for the deployment of LLM-based market agents.
Code (0)
등록된 구현이 없습니다.
Similar Papers 제목 키워드 기반
Algorithmic Collusion in Auctions: Evidence from Controlled Laboratory Experiments
Algorithms are increasingly being used to automate participation in online markets. Banchio and Skrzypacz (2022) demonstrate how exploration under identical valuation in first-price auctions may lead to spontaneous coupl…
Q-LearningAudit the Whisper: Detecting Steganographic Collusion in Multi-Agent LLMs
Multi-agent deployments of large language models (LLMs) are increasingly embedded in market, allocation, and governance workflows, yet covert coordination among agents can silently erode trust and social welfare. Existin…
Efficient allocations in double auction markets
This paper proposes a simple descriptive model of discrete-time double auction markets for divisible assets. As in the classical models of exchange economies, we consider a finite set of agents described by their initial…
DescriptiveTacit Bidder-Side Collusion: Artificial Intelligence in Dynamic Auctions
We study whether large language models acting as autonomous bidders can tacitly collude by coordinating when to accept platform posted payouts in repeated Dutch auctions, without any communication. We present a minimal r…
A Nash Equilibrium Solution for Periodic Double Auctions
We consider a periodic double auction (PDA) setting where buyers of the auction have multiple (but finite) opportunities to procure multiple but fixed units of a commodity. The goal of each buyer participating in such au…