# Braess's Paradox of Generative AI

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.05506 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.05506/

## Key facts

- Cited by 7 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 9 Sep 2024.

## Built on by (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [Game Theory Meets Large Language Models: A Systematic Survey with Taxonomy and New Frontiers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.09053/) (2025)
- [How Strategic Agents Respond: Comparing Analytical Models with LLM-Generated Responses in Strategic Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.16355/) (2025)
- [Flattening Supply Chains: When do Technology Improvements lead to Disintermediation?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.20783/) (2025)
- [Collaborating with GenAI: Incentives and Replacements](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.20213/) (2025)
- [AI-Mediated Communication Can Steer Collective Opinion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.16245/) (2026)
- [Data Sharing with a Generative AI Competitor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.12386/) (2025)
- [Market Games for Generative Models: Equilibria, Welfare, and Strategic Entry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.17787/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

ChatGPT has established Generative AI (GenAI) as a significant technological advancement. However, GenAI's intricate relationship with competing platforms and its downstream impact on users remains under-explored. This paper initiates the study of GenAI's long-term social impact resulting from the weakening network effect of human-based platforms like Stack Overflow. First, we study GenAI's revenue-maximization optimization problem. We develop an approximately optimal solution and show that the optimal solution has a non-cyclic structure. Then, we analyze the social impact, showing that GenAI could be socially harmful. Specifically, we present an analog to Braess's paradox in which all users would be better off without GenAI. Finally, we develop necessary and sufficient conditions for a regulator with incomplete information to ensure that GenAI is socially beneficial.