From AutoResearch to Continual AutoResearch: Do Agents Learn Across Tasks?

Abstract

Autoresearch has shown that agents can autonomously write code, run experiments, and iteratively improve machine learning solutions. Yet most evaluations start a new agent session from scratch for each new problem, making them costly and leaving unclear whether agents can retain and apply prior insights when adapting to new tasks. We introduce CONTINUAL AUTORESEARCH, an open-ended environment that compares persistent and reset instances of the same agent under matched task streams, data, and time budget. Continual AutoResearch covers nine task families, spanning synthetic tasks, symbolic regression, time-series forecasting, and tabular AutoML. Across five frontier agents, we measure first-solution quality, research efficiency, and final held-out performance. To distinguish insight transfer from session continuity, we run a memory ablation that vary what information agents retain from prior tasks. We show that persistent state improves research efficiency of all five agents, allowing them to find stronger solutions sooner. However, these gains do not consistently translate into better final solutions. Overall, our findings suggest that retaining experience and utilizing it effectively are distinct capabilities.