AI startup Altera conducted a groundbreaking experiment where up to 1,000 AI agents, powered by large language models, interacted autonomously in Minecraft. As reported by Niall Firth, the AI characters developed distinct personalities, established social hierarchies, created specialized jobs like builders and traders, and even participated in religious and political activities without human intervention.
The experiment, led by former MIT professor Robert Yang, demonstrated how AI agents could form complex social structures and exhibit emergent behaviors. The agents showed varying levels of sociability, created cultural memes, and participated in community decisions like tax reforms. While the behaviors appeared lifelike, Altera’s co-founder Andrew Ahn clarified that these patterns stem from LLMs mimicking human social dynamics rather than genuine consciousness.