LLM-Powered Swarms: A New Frontier or a Conceptual Stretch?

Abstract: Swarm intelligence traditionally refers to systems of simple, decentralized agents whose local interactions lead to emergent, collective behavior. Recently, the term 'swarm' has been extended to describe AI systems like OpenAI's Swarm, where LLMs act as collaborative agents. This paper contrasts traditional swarm algorithms with LLM-driven swarms exploring how decentralization, scalability, and emergence are redefined in modern AI. We implement and compare both paradigms using Boids and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), evaluating latency, resource usage, and behavioral accuracy. The suitability of both cloud-based and local LLMs is assessed for the agent-based use in swarms. Although LLMs offer powerful reasoning and abstraction capabilities, they introduce new constraints in computation and coordination that challenge traditional notions of swarm design. This study highlights the opportunities and limitations of integrating LLMs into swarm systems and discusses the evolving definition of 'swarm' in modern AI research.