How do LLMs form conventions and influence society?
The Dynamics of Social Conventions in LLM populations: Spontaneous Emergence, Collective Biases and Tipping Points
October 14, 2024
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2410.08948This research studies how social conventions emerge in groups of AI agents that communicate using large language models (LLMs).
- Emergence of conventions: Just like in human societies, these LLM-powered agents spontaneously develop shared conventions through simple interactions, even without central control.
- Collective bias: Surprisingly, groups of agents can demonstrate a preference for a specific convention even if individual agents don't have that bias. This preference arises from their communication.
- Tipping points: A small group of agents consistently promoting an alternative convention can "flip" the entire population to adopt it, similar to critical mass dynamics observed in social movements. The size of this influential group depends on the LLM model and the specific convention being challenged.