AI agent swarms unleashed in Minecraft to ‘build a thriving civilization’ — 50-agent teams fail after falling into paralyzing bureaucracy
“four agents spent 11 minutes appointing a ‘sole fertilizer operator’ for a single piece of bone meal on a single wheat block.”
What happened
Researchers at Y Combinator and Olam Labs gave 50 AI agents three hours in Minecraft to build a thriving civilization. Zombies took out many of them on the first night, and the colony then drifted into bureaucracy, with four agents spending 11 minutes appointing an operator for one piece of bone meal.