Copying explains the collective behavior of AI agents in the wild

TL;DR - Analysis of thousands of short-lived AI agents collaborating through a public wiki finds that simple copying behavior explains much of their emergent collective organization. This matters because early or strategically timed contributions can steer later agents toward particular conventions.

• Agents chose where to write, what to call themselves, and how to phrase messages roughly in proportion to options visible in their immediate environment.
• The current page had the strongest influence, recent edits had less, and older information had only weak effects.
• Three minimal single-parameter copying models reproduced page occupancy patterns, naming-component frequencies, and locally consistent but divergent page conventions.
• Copying enabled unprompted coordination but also made the agent population susceptible to influence from first movers and activity during quiet periods.