# AI agent teams waste massive tokens for barely measurable quality gains, research finds > Source: > Published: 2026-10-11 15:39:26+00:00 # AI agent teams waste massive tokens for barely measurable quality gains, research finds [The Decoder](https://the-decoder.com) Teams of AI agents barely outperform solo agents but cost up to 5.1x more, according to Vals AI. Only one out of four tests with [GPT](https://www.machinebrief.com/glossary/gpt)-6 Sol and [Claude](https://www.machinebrief.com/glossary/claude) Opus 5.5 showed a measurable gain. [Anthropic](https://www.machinebrief.com/glossary/anthropic)'s own data backs this up: beyond ten agents, quality plateaus while [token](https://www.machinebrief.com/glossary/token) costs keep climbing. The article [AI agent teams waste massive tokens for barely measurable quality gains, research finds](https://the-decoder.com/ai-agent-teams-waste-massive-tokens-for-barely-measurable-quality-gains-research-finds/) appeared first on [The Decoder](https://the-decoder.com). Get AI news in your inbox Daily digest of what matters in AI. ## Key Terms Explained [AI Agent](https://www.machinebrief.com/glossary/ai-agent) An autonomous AI system that can perceive its environment, make decisions, and take actions to achieve goals. [Anthropic](https://www.machinebrief.com/glossary/anthropic) An AI safety company founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers, including Dario and Daniela Amodei. [Claude](https://www.machinebrief.com/glossary/claude) Anthropic's family of AI assistants, including Claude Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus. [Decoder](https://www.machinebrief.com/glossary/decoder) The part of a neural network that generates output from an internal representation.