The Impact of Generative AI on Social Media: An Experimental Study

Authors: AG Møller, DM Romero, D Jurgens

Published: 2025

Publication: arXiv preprint arXiv ..., 2025 - arxiv.org

Generative AI tools on social media increase user engagement and content volume but reduce perceived quality and authenticity in discussions, highlighting challenges for ethical integration.

Methods: Controlled experiment with participants assigned to small discussion groups under distinct AI-assisted treatment conditions including chat assistance, conversation starters, feedback on comment drafts, and reply suggestions.

Key Findings: Impact of generative AI tools on user behavior, engagement, content volume, perceived quality, and authenticity in social media interactions.

Limitations: Findings may not generalize beyond the controlled experiment setup; potential biases due to the limited U.S. participant sample.

Institution: University of Copenhagen, University of Michigan, Pioneer Centre for AI

Research Area: Generative AI, Social Media, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

Discipline: Computational Social Science

Sample Size: 680 participants

Citations: 9

DOI: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.14295