Harnessing LLMs as Agents: What Does It Cost?
Read the original on arXiv Machine Learning →The paper introduces the Language Model Agent Machine (LAM), a framework that quantifies the computational resources consumed by language‑model agents’ harnesses—such as bounded context, memory, tools, and verification. It presents four main theoretical results: (1) communication costs mapped to pebbling lower bounds, (2) memory‑access separations revealing a linear gap between random and non‑speculative access, (3) recomputation bounds for bit‑reversal DAGs that show when storing intermediate state is beneficial, and (4) reliability bounds that yield optimal verification intervals. Experiments on GPT‑6 Astra validate the theory’s predictions for communication, reliability, and trade‑offs in practical tasks.
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