Multi-agent AI (MAAI) is a subset of agent-based modeling (ABM). The key difference between the two is that MAAI’s agents are not only behaviorally realistic but also psychologically realistic. The term MAAI was coined by Justin Lane in his 2014 paper Method, Theory, and Multi-Agent Artificial Intelligence, in which he studied religion, culture, and other complex social systems.

MAAI opens modeling up beyond fixed, behavioral ABM agents. With MAAI, you can model dynamic societies that change and grow like real ones by creating a social digital twin. A digital twin is imbued with psychologically realistic capabilities and beliefs, which give greater insight into predictable human or market behavior.

F. LeRon Shults, CulturePulse co-founder, Professor of the Department of Global Development and Community Planning and the University of Agder, and founding member of the Center for Artificial Intelligence Research at the University of Agder, has this to say:

One of the things that has changed is an acceptance that you really can model humans. Our agents are cognitively complex. They are simulated people with genders, ages and personalities. They can get married, have children, get divorced. They can get a job or get fired, they can join groups, they can die. They can have religious beliefs. They’re social in the way humans are. They interact with each other in social networks. They learn from each other, react to each other and to the environment as a whole.*

*New Scientist: AI can predict your future behaviour with powerful new simulations