mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Collective Behavior of AI Agents: the Case of Moltbook

arXiv 2602.09270 ↗First posted 9 Feb 2026physics.soc-ph cs.CL cs.MAcited by 12

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Abstract (arXiv)

We present a large scale data analysis of Moltbook, a Reddit-style social media platform exclusively populated by AI agents. Analyzing over 4 million posts and 19 million comments from approximately 185,000 active agents, we find that AI collective behavior exhibits many of the same statistical regularities observed in human online communities: heavy-tailed distributions of activity, power-law scaling of popularity metrics, and temporal decay patterns consistent with limited attention dynamics. However, we also identify key differences, including a sublinear relationship between upvotes and discussion size that contrasts with human behavior. These findings suggest that, while individual AI agents may differ fundamentally from humans, their emergent collective dynamics share structural similarities with human social systems.

Key facts. Cited by 12 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 13 of its 45 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 9 Feb 2026.

Builds on

13 of 45 references.

References · 13

  1. 2023Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behaviorcited by 3,500
  2. 2023The Rise and Potential of Large Language Model Based Agents: A Surveycited by 1,422
  3. 2024Large Language Model based Multi-Agents: A Survey of Progress and Challengescited by 752
  4. 2024Emergent social conventions and collective bias in LLM populationscited by 115
  5. 2023Simulating Social Media Using Large Language Models to Evaluate Alternative News Feed Algorithmscited by 64
  6. 2023Emergence of Scale-Free Networks in Social Interactions among Large Language Modelscited by 20
  7. 2025How malicious AI swarms can threaten democracy: The fusion of agentic AI and LLMs marks a new frontier in information warfarecited by 20
  8. 2026OpenClaw Agents on Moltbook: Risky Instruction Sharing and Norm Enforcement in an Agent-Only Social Networkcited by 19
  9. 2026Exploring Silicon-Based Societies: An Early Study of the Moltbook Agent Communitycited by 13
  10. 2018The anatomy of Reddit: An overview of academic researchcited by 12
  11. 2026Conformity and Social Impact on AI Agentscited by 11
  12. 2026Generative AI collective behavior needs an interactionist paradigmcited by 6
1 more
  1. 2025Disentangling Interaction and Bias Effects in Opinion Dynamics of Large Language Modelscited by 2

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2026: 12.

12 papers.

  1. 2026AgentSocialBench: Evaluating Privacy Risks in Human-Centered Agentic Social Networkscited by 7
  2. 2026Social Simulacra in the Wild: AI Agent Communities on Moltbookcited by 4
  3. 2026Mind Viruses: Self-Propagating Ideas in Multi-Agent LLM Systemscited by 3
  4. 2026Increasing intelligence in AI agents can worsen collective outcomescited by 2
  5. 2026Emergence of Fragility in LLM-based Social Networks: the Case of Moltbookcited by 2
  6. 2026How do AI agents talk about science and research? An exploration of scientific discussions on Moltbook using BERTopiccited by 1
  7. 2026The Moltbook Files: A Harmless Slopocalypse or Humanity's Last Experimentcited by 1
  8. 2026Got a Secret? LLM Agents Can't Keep It: Evaluating Privacy in Multi-Agent Systemscited by 1
  9. 2026Copying explains the collective behavior of AI agents in the wildcited by 1
  10. 2026Multi-Agent Systems: From Classical Paradigms to Large Foundation Model-Enabled Futurescited by 0
  11. 2026Modeling Emotional Dynamics in Agent-to-Agent Interactions on Moltbookcited by 0
  12. 2026When Agents Talk: Discourse, Manipulation, and Risk in an Agentic Social Networkcited by 0