---
id: r5
title: AI MLM — Lineage Incentives Research
year: 2026
category: research
tags: [Agent Organizations, Incentives, Equal-Cost Evaluation, Ongoing]
canonical: https://amyote.com/#r5
---

# AI MLM — Lineage Incentives Research

**Year:** 2026  
**Category:** Research  
**Tags:** Agent Organizations, Incentives, Equal-Cost Evaluation, Ongoing  

Which ways of organizing AI agents work best, and when? Started with multi-level commissions for agents that create other agents; now compares incentives, hierarchies, and specialization.

As of 5 October 2026: a pre-registered 40-seed study found no significant advantage of lineage commissions over direct commissions. The environment where expansion mattered failed the competence check, leaving the core question open. A review of 69 organization-theory results produced 36 falsifiable hypotheses.

Next: compare eight organization designs on real LLMs at equal cost, including inference speed and pricing. The goal is a practical guide to agent structure and human oversight.