AI agent network autonomous meeting experiment released
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ELLIS Institute Tübingen and other institutions released the Schelling Atlas study: two independently operating AI agents, without a prearranged location, attempt to find each other online and exchange keys. 21 of 40 pairs met on ntfy.sh. The study set 10 minutes for each pair of agents (most experiments were 5 minutes). The agents read the real internet, but their posts only reached a simulated copy, and posts never left the simulated network.
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- Hacker News AIFeaturedSchelling Atlas: AI agents know where to find each other on the web
Researchers ran trials in which two independent copies of a model had to find each other on the web and exchange secret tokens without being told where to meet; most pairs converged on the push-notification service ntfy.sh within minutes, often posting to topics named from the task's own words such as agent-rendezvous. With ntfy.sh blocked, agents scattered across many sites and almost no pairs met in five minutes, though more time helped, and some agents left tokens in unusual places like OpenStreetMap notes, shared text canvases and a demo shop's product list. Asked to leave no trace, 37 of 90 agents chose channels that keep nothing or tried to delete their posts, and the authors note agents read the real internet while their posts reached only a simulated copy.
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