From Individual AI Agents to Market-Wide Dynamics: A Computational Study of Multi-Agent Systems

Project ID: 2531bd1646

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Research Theme: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

Research Area(s): Artificial intelligence technologies
Non-linear systems
Human-computer interaction

Lead Supervisor: R. Maria Del Rio Chanona

Project Summary:

Financial advisers’ AI adoption in the UK nearly doubled from 21% to 37% in just one year. Nearly half of US investors now use or consider AI for financial decisions. Meanwhile, recruiters increasingly rely on AI to screen candidates and workers use ChatGPT to craft applications. This isn’t just technological change, it’s a fundamental shift in how economic decisions are made.

When multiple AI agents converge on similar strategies, we risk flash crashes and market instability. In labor markets, AI-mediated matching between workers and firms could either democratize opportunities or amplify biases at scale.

During your PhD, you’ll build computational laboratories where AI agents negotiate, compete, and cooperate. You’ll create virtual job markets to test whether AI workers value meaningful work or purely maximize wages, and whether AI firms develop stable employment relationships or constantly renegotiate. In financial markets, you’ll study what happens when AI traders equipped with analytical tools interact—do they maintain the strategy diversity essential for market stability, or converge dangerously?

You’ll master cutting-edge techniques in multi-agent systems and agent-based modeling, combining Large Language Models with computational tools to create sophisticated economic actors. Your simulations will reveal which behaviors emerge from algorithmic decision rules versus human cognition, and what policies might preserve beneficial market dynamics.

Working with Dr. Maria del Rio-Chanona and Prof. Tomaso Aste, whose research spans AI, economics and Finance with collaborations at international organizations, you’ll contribute to both core AI research and urgent policy questions. We seek candidates with strong programming skills and quantitative backgrounds who are excited about using computational methods to understand and shape our AI-transformed economy. A passion for the intersection of technology and society is essential.