9 Recent advances in Multi-Agent Systems (all open-source)
The idea to split tasks across multiple agents instead of relying on one universal agent is now seen as one of the most effective ways to build an AI stack. Concepts like “agent swarms” were highlighted at the AI Engineer Code Summit in NYC (Nov 20–21) as the winning architecture. And this trend is not only about coding and software. It applies across all AI domains.
So here is some recent research that helps keep multi-agent systems (MAS) better and up-to-date:
1. LatentMAS → Latent Collaboration in Multi-Agent Systems (2511.20639) AI agents share their hidden "thoughts" directly in latent space instead of talking through text. This makes collaboration and reasoning way faster and accurate (no extra training needed)
2. Puppeteer → Multi-Agent Collaboration via Evolving Orchestration (2505.19591) Uses a “puppeteer” LLM that dynamically decides which agents (“puppets”) to call and in what order. By learning this orchestration with reinforcement learning (RL), the system solves complex tasks more efficiently and with fewer compute costs
3. MADD → MADD: Multi-Agent Drug Discovery Orchestra (2511.08217) A MAS with 4 agents for drug discovery. It lets researchers describe a drug discovery task in plain language. Then MADD automatically builds and runs the full hit-identification pipeline, making AI-driven drug design a simple end-to-end workflow
4. Multi-Agent Tool-Integrated Policy Optimization (MATPO) → Multi-Agent Tool-Integrated Policy Optimization (2510.04678) Lets one LLM act as multiple agents (like a planner and a worker) by using different prompts and training them together with RL. So you get the benefits of a multi-agent system without needing multiple models
🚀 Big news for AI agents! With the latest release of smolagents, you can now securely execute Python code in sandboxed Docker or E2B environments. 🦾🔒
Here's why this is a game-changer for agent-based systems: 🧵👇
1️⃣ Security First 🔐 Running AI agents in unrestricted Python environments is risky! With sandboxing, your agents are isolated, preventing unintended file access, network abuse, or system modifications.
2️⃣ Deterministic & Reproducible Runs 📦 By running agents in containerized environments, you ensure that every execution happens in a controlled and predictable setting—no more environment mismatches or dependency issues!
3️⃣ Resource Control & Limits 🚦 Docker and E2B allow you to enforce CPU, memory, and execution time limits, so rogue or inefficient agents don’t spiral out of control.
4️⃣ Safer Code Execution in Production 🏭 Deploy AI agents confidently, knowing that any generated code runs in an ephemeral, isolated environment, protecting your host machine and infrastructure.
5️⃣ Easy to Integrate 🛠️ With smolagents, you can simply configure your agent to use Docker or E2B as its execution backend—no need for complex security setups!
6️⃣ Perfect for Autonomous AI Agents 🤖 If your AI agents generate and execute code dynamically, this is a must-have to avoid security pitfalls while enabling advanced automation.