The PIMMUR Principles: Ensuring Validity in Collective Behavior of LLM Societies

Excerpt

arXiv:2509.18052v4 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly used to simulate human collective behavior, yet claims that such simulations are human-like remain largely untested. We conducted a systematic audit (pre-registered on OSF) of LLM-based social simulations across four databases (Scopus, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and arXiv). Across 576 studies reported in 350 recent papers, we applied six methodological evaluations: agent Profile, Interaction,