Change.org 'write with AI' changed petitions, not outcomes

Change.org added a 'write with AI' button in October 2023, petitions got longer and more homogeneous, and the share clearing simple engagement thresholds fell. A Cornell-led team reports this in a Nature Human Behaviour paper built on 1.5 million petitions and a difference-in-differences design that exploited the tool's staggered launch: the United States, United Kingdom and Canada received access first, Australia later.

The authors are direct. 'In-platform AI access substantially altered the lexical features of petitions and increased petition homogeneity but did not improve petition outcomes,' they write. The two outcome measures were simple proxies for traction: whether a petition collected at least ten signatures, and whether it attracted at least one comment within thirty days.

A separate analysis of 4,611 users who posted petitions both before and after the AI tool landed produced the same signal. Writers 'write longer petitions with worse outcomes when their second petition is written with access to AI.' Two of the researchers we follow surfaced the paper the day it posted.

'AI writing tools can profoundly reshape online content,' the authors write, 'their practical utility for improving desired outcomes may be less beneficial than anticipated.' The paper does not break the results out by cause or language.