Can LLMs Learn Social Skills By Playing Games?
IBM, Wednesday, July 23rd, 2025
A new open-source framework, TextArena, pits large language models against each other in competitive environments designed to test and improve their communication skills.
Large language models are moving beyond fixed question-and-answer tasks to more complex, open-ended problems. TextArena is part of a new class of benchmarks designed to test and stretch their capabilities.
TextArena is an interactive open-source platform, developed by researchers at Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and IBM Research, in which LLM agents compete against each other at more than two dozen text-based games. Reminiscent of bare bones computer games from the 1980s, most of the puzzles and card and board games on the site require logic, strategy, and negotiation skills to succeed.