Reddit's Battle to Remain Human-Centric in the Age of AI

Reddit CEO pledges site will remain "written by humans and voted on by humans

Reddit is in an "arms race" to protect its devoted online communities from a surge in artificial intelligence-generated content, with the authenticity of its vast repository of human interaction increasingly valuable in training new AI-powered search tools. Chief executive Steve Huffman told the Financial Times that Reddit had "20 years of conversation about everything," leaving the company with a lucrative resource of personal interaction. This has allowed it to strike multimillion dollar partnerships with Google and OpenAI to train their large language models on its content, as tech companies look for real-world data that can improve their generative AI products. But Huffman said Reddit was now battling to ensure its users stay at the center of the social network. "Where the rest of the internet seems to be powered by or written by or summarized by AI, Reddit is distinctly human," he said. "It's the place you go when you want to hear from people, their lived experiences, their perspectives, their recommendations. Reddit is communities and human curation and conversation and authenticity." As Reddit becomes an increasingly important source for LLMs, advertisers are responding with what one agency chief described as a "massive migration" to the platform. Multiple advertising and agency executives speaking during this month's Cannes advertising festival told the FT that brands were increasingly exploring hosting a business account and posting content on Reddit to boost the likelihood of their ads appearing in the responses of generative AI chatbots. However, Huffman warned against any company seeking to game the site with fake or AI-generated content, with plans to bring in strict verification checks to ensure that only humans can post to its forums. "For 20 years, we've been fighting people who have wanted to be popular on Reddit," he said. "We index very well into the search engines. If you want to show up in the search engines, you try to do well on Reddit, and now the LLMs, it's the same thing. If you want to be in the LLMs, you can do it through Reddit." For Huffman, success comes down to making sure that posts are "written by humans and voted on by humans" -- referencing the process by which users can "upvote" posts in order to show their appreciation or "downvote" those they find unhelpful. "It's an arms race, it's a never ending battle," he said. "The AI version of it, it's a new frontier in the same battle that we've been fighting for a long time." Huffman said Reddit would still not require users to post under their real names -- one of the defining features of the site -- but the group would seek to use services that will provide verification "you're a human without knowing your name." Reddit is exploring using World ID, the eyeball-scanning technology from Sam Altman's Worldcoin venture, as a way to verify users while granting them anonymity, according to a person familiar with the talks and first reported by Semafor. Altman, OpenAI's chief executive, used to sit on Reddit's board. "Human verification is top of mind for us right now. Over the rest of this year, we'll be evolving that -- it's a need on the Internet broadly," Huffman said. Reddit is protecting the value of its content in other ways. Last month it sued AI start-up Anthropic in San Francisco, claiming it had scraped its platform more than 100,000 times since July 2024. "We disagree with Reddit's claims and will defend ourselves vigorously," Anthropic said. Huffman said there are "a few cases where people have taken advantage of Reddit content, and we're working through those moments." Huffman's comments come as Reddit seeks to woo brands with new advertising tools and features. This month, it launched two AI-powered products to provide marketers with real-time data on trending conversations and showcase positive user-generated content underneath real adverts. Reddit now has more than 100,000 communities based around topic and interest. Reddit's commercial pitch is that many of these conversations -- about 40 percent -- are about a service or a product, and within this a quarter relate to some sort of recommendation. But several agency executives told the FT that Reddit's advertising offering still needed fine-tuning, particularly around user targeting. Reddit is also improving its platform for users, with an AI-powered search that provides verbatim quotes from its communities and new translation tools to extend its site to 13 languages later this year, including Korean and Japanese. Huffman said the platform was now "much more than what we could have imagined 20 years ago" when he co-founded the site with a college friend. Huffman left Reddit in 2009 after it was acquired by Condé Nast, but returned in 2015 when the site faced potential collapse following widespread user dissent over toxic posts and harmful content. At the time, Reddit had 12 million daily users and revenue of $15 million. A decade later, it has reached more than 100 million daily average users and is turning over more than $1.3 billion. Reddit floated in March 2024 with a valuation of $6.4 billion, which has grown to $26 billion despite a fall in its stock in recent months over concerns that search traffic will be hit with the introduction of Google's AI Overviews -- answers to search queries that remove the need for users to click through to its webpages. Huffman said he was relaxed about the longer term impact of Google Overview removing the need for people to click through to Reddit links. The "majority of our traffic comes directly to Reddit" rather than through Google, he said, adding that "the search ecosystem is evolving, and it's volatile right now, but that also opens the door for other players in search, including Reddit." © 2025 The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be redistributed, copied, or modified in any way.

Reddit turns 20, and it's going big on AI

Jay Peters is a news editor covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme. Reddit has become known as the place to go for unfiltered answers from real, human users. But as the site celebrates its 20th anniversary this week, the company is increasingly thinking about how it can augment that human work with AI. The initial rollout of AI tools, like Reddit Answers, is "going really well," CTO Chris Slowe tells The Verge. At a time when Google and its AI tools are going to Reddit for human answers, Reddit is going to its own human answers to power AI features, hoping they're the key to letting people unlock useful information from its huge trove of posts and communities. Reddit Answers is the first big user-facing piece of the company's AI push. Like other AI search tools, Reddit Answers will show an AI-generated summary to a query. But Reddit Answers also very prominently links to where the content came from -- and as a user, you also know that the link will point you to another place on Reddit instead of some SEO-driven garbage. It also helps that the citations feel much more prominent than on tools like Google's AI Mode -- a tool that news publishers have criticized as "theft." "If you just want the short summary, it's there," Slowe says. "If you want to delve deeper, it's an easier way to get into it." In order for those AI answers to be useful, they need to continue to be based on real human responses. Reddit now has to be on the lookout for AI-generated comments and posts infiltrating its site. It's an important thing for the platform to stay on top of, says Slowe: Reddit's key benefit is that you can trust that a lot of what's written on it is written by humans, and AI spam could erode that. "Trust is an essential component of the way Reddit works," Slowe says. The platform is using AI and LLMs to help with moderation and user safety, too. The other half of Reddit's AI equation is selling its own data, which is extremely valuable to AI giants. The changes that forced notable apps to shut down and spurred widespread user protests (which Slowe referred to as "some unpleasantness that happened about two years ago") were positioned by CEO Steve Huffman as more of a way to get AI companies to pony up. And two of the biggest companies have already done so, as Reddit has cut AI deals with both Google and OpenAI. But Reddit also has to be on the lookout for improper use of its data, with the most recent crackdown being its lawsuit against Anthropic. "At the end of the day, we aren't a charity," Slowe says. Reddit wants to provide a service that people can use for free, "but don't build your business on our back and expect us not to try and defend ourselves." Still, with new AI-powered search products from Google, OpenAI, and others on the rise, Reddit risks getting buried by AI summaries. And Reddit is experimenting with AI-powered searches on its own platform. So what's the company's goal for the future? "Keep allowing Reddit to be Reddit," Slowe says. "I think that the underlying model for Reddit hasn't really drastically changed since the early days." The platform doesn't require real names (your username is a "coveted thing" that many people keep private, Slowe says), everything is focused on text, and reputation is more important than who you are; all of these elements marked "a drastic difference with the rest of social media." Reddit is also facing competition from a slightly different angle: Digg, which is making a return with the backing of founder Kevin Rose and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Slowe didn't have much to say about it, though. "I always love seeing innovation and I always love seeing new bends on old business models."

Reddit vows to stay human to emerge a winner from artificial intelligence

Reddit is in an "arms race" to protect its devoted online communities from a surge in artificial intelligence-generated content, with the authenticity of its vast repository of human interaction increasingly valuable in training new AI-powered search tools. Chief executive Steve Huffman told the Financial Times that Reddit had "20 years of conversation about everything", leaving the company with a lucrative resource of personal interaction. This has allowed it to strike multimillion dollar partnerships with Google and OpenAI to train their large language models on its content, as tech companies look for real-world data that can improve their generative AI products. But Huffman said Reddit was now battling to ensure its users stay at the centre of the social network. "Where the rest of the internet seems to be powered by or written by or summarised by AI, Reddit is distinctly human," he said. "It's the place you go when you want to hear from people, their lived experiences, their perspectives, their recommendations. Reddit is communities and human curation and conversation and authenticity." As Reddit becomes an increasingly important source for LLMs, advertisers are responding with what one agency chief described as a "massive migration" to the platform. Multiple advertising and agency executives speaking during this month's Cannes advertising festival told the FT that brands were increasingly exploring hosting a business account and posting content on Reddit to boost the likelihood of their ads appearing in the responses of generative AI chatbots. However, Huffman warned against any company seeking to game the site with fake or AI-generated content, with plans to bring in strict verification checks to ensure that only humans can post to its forums. "For 20 years, we've been fighting people who have wanted to be popular on Reddit," he said. "We index very well into the search engines. If you want to show up in the search engines, you try to do well on Reddit, and now the LLMs, it's the same thing. If you want to be in the LLMs, you can do it through Reddit." For Huffman, success comes down to making sure that posts are "written by humans and voted on by humans" -- referencing the process by which users can "upvote" posts in order to show their appreciation or "downvote" those they find unhelpful. "It's an arms race, it's a never ending battle", he said. "The AI version of it, it's a new frontier in the same battle that we've been fighting for a long time." Huffman said Reddit would still not require users to post under their real names -- one of the defining features of the site -- but the group would seek to use services that will provide verification "you're a human without knowing your name". Reddit is exploring using World ID, the eyeball-scanning technology from Sam Altman's Worldcoin venture, as a way to verify users while granting them anonymity, according to a person familiar with the talks and first reported by Semafor. Altman, OpenAI's chief executive, used to sit on Reddit's board. "Human verification is top of mind for us right now. Over the rest of this year, we'll be evolving that -- it's a need on the internet broadly", Huffman said. Reddit is protecting the value of its content in other ways. Last month it sued AI start-up Anthropic in San Francisco, claiming it had scraped its platform more than 100,000 times since July 2024. "We disagree with Reddit's claims and will defend ourselves vigorously," Anthropic said. Huffman said there are "a few cases where people have taken advantage of Reddit content, and we're working through those moments". Huffman's comments come as Reddit seeks to woo brands with new advertising tools and features. This month, it launched two AI-powered products to provide marketers with real-time data on trending conversations and showcase positive user-generated content underneath real adverts. Reddit now has more than 100,000 communities based around topic and interest. Reddit's commercial pitch is that many of these conversations -- about 40 per cent -- are about a service or a product, and within this a quarter relate to some sort of recommendation. But several agency executives told the FT that Reddit's advertising offering still needed fine-tuning, particularly around user targeting. Reddit is also improving its platform for users, with an AI-powered search that provides verbatim quotes from its communities and new translation tools to extend its site to 13 languages later this year, including Korean and Japanese. Huffman said the platform was now "much more than what we could have imagined 20 years ago" when he co-founded the site with a college friend. Huffman left Reddit in 2009 after it was acquired by Condé Nast, but returned in 2015 when the site faced potential collapse following widespread user dissent over toxic posts and harmful content. At the time, Reddit had 12mn daily users and revenue of $15mn. A decade later, it has reached more than 100mn daily average users and is turning over more than $1.3bn. Reddit floated in March 2024 with a valuation of $6.4bn, which has grown to $26bn despite a fall in its stock in recent months over concerns that search traffic will be hit with the introduction of Google's AI Overviews -- answers to search queries that remove the need for users to click through to its web pages. Huffman said he was relaxed about the longer term impact of Google Overview removing the need for people to click through to Reddit links. The "majority of our traffic comes directly to Reddit" rather than through Google, he said, adding that "the search ecosystem is evolving, and it's volatile right now, but that also opens the door for other players in search, including Reddit".

At 20 years old, Reddit is defending its data and fighting AI with AI

As social media has changed over the past two decades with the shift to mobile and the more recent focus on short-form video, peers like MySpace, Digg and Flickr have faded into oblivion. Reddit, meanwhile, has refused to die, chugging along and gaining an audience of over 108 million daily users who congregate in more than 100,000 subreddit communities. There, Reddit users keep it old school and leave simple text comments to one another about their favorite hobbies, pastimes and interests. Those user-generated text comments are a treasure trove that, in the age of artificial intelligence, Reddit is fighting to defend. The emergence of AI chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini threaten to inhale vast swaths of data from services like Reddit. As more people turn to chatbots for information they previously went to websites for, Reddit faces a gargantuan challenge gaining new users, particularly if Google's search floodgates dry up. CEO Steve Huffman explained Reddit's situation to analysts in May, saying that challenges like the one AI poses can also create opportunities. While the "search ecosystem is under heavy construction," Huffman said he's betting that the voices of Reddit's users will help it stand out amid the "annotated sterile answers from AI." Huffman doubled down on that notion last week, saying on a podcast that the reality is AI is still in its infancy. "There will always be a need, a desire for people to talk to people about stuff," Huffman said. "That is where we are going to be focused." Huffman may be correct about Reddit's loyal user base, but in the age of AI, many users simply "go the easiest possible way," said Ann Smarty, a marketing and reputation management consultant who helps brands monitor consumer perception on Reddit. And there may be no simpler way of finding answers on the internet than simply asking ChatGPT a question, Smarty said. "People do not want to click," she said. "They just want those quick answers."

Reddit vows to stay human to emerge a winner from AI

Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe. Cannes | Reddit is in an "arms race" to protect its devoted online communities from a surge in artificial intelligence-generated content, with the authenticity of its vast repository of human interaction increasingly valuable in training new AI-powered search tools. Chief executive Steve Huffman told the Financial Times that Reddit had "20 years of conversation about everything", leaving the company with a lucrative resource of personal interaction.

As Reddit Turns 20, It Embraces AI To Evolve - But Fights To Stay Human As Google And Chatbots Try To Strip Away Its Soul

Reddit has been the cornerstone of the internet for the past 20 years, where people come to the platform to engage in meaningful conversations. There were many other popular community-based platforms that lost its charm with video content being on the rise and the introduction of mobile apps, such as MySpace, Flickr but somehow Reddit remained unshaken. In fact, the forum grew more stronger every passing year. It has about 100,000 active communities and roughly 108 million daily users who rely on it for news, advice or even entertainment. As the company celebrates 20 years of service, the platform is looking for ways on how artificial intelligence can be incorporated while maintaining human authenticity. Reddit has been in the business for about two decades and the platform stands out from others due to the real, raw conversations it offers and a sense of community on varied topics and from different niches. Users come to the platform to ask questions or even share advices and can do anonymously as well to encourage unfiltered discussions and is not driven by the heavy algorithm format similar to the other apps. Reddit was the one to popularize what is called the AMA format or Ask me Anything strategy sharing access to firsthand experiences or perspectives with the ambitious approach to remain the front page of the internet by giving users the option to post content and encouraging organic dialogue. While the platform did not chase any trends, it still kept on growing due to the genuine communities that tend to offer substance and the old school format it followed. However, with the emergence of AI chatbots and there immense popularity, there seems to be a serious threat to platforms like Reddit as these AI models are becoming the go-to for getting prompt answers and engaging in conversations. Since the platform thrives by being more visible on Google search, in the AI dominated industry, it could struggle with people coming to the Reddit threads through the search engine. As the company is marking its 20th anniversary, it is shifting its focus and looking into ways it can protect Reddit's data from AI while keeping maintaining its core. Reddit has been slowing adopting AI-powered tools such as introducing moderation features to manage content in a better way and then its Reddit Answers to summarize what is being talked about in the community discussions. It is now looking into even adding a Reddit-search engine in order to adapt to the changing needs and dynamics of the industry and exploring ways to profit from AI directly. Reddit's CEO Steve Huffman is positive when it comes to the future of the platform as he took to Reddit to share about about his belief that the forum works due to the raw and human touch it offers. He shared: It's one of the few places online where real people share real opinions. That authenticity is what gives Reddit its value. If we lose trust in that, we lose what makes Reddit...Reddit. Our focus is, and always will be, on keeping Reddit a trusted place for human conversation. Huffman emphasized how Reddit has remained strong and how the powerful communities it has built is where the true success lies. He shared his excitement on hitting 20 years and on the future of the platform and made sure the audience knows he is not going to compromise on the very core of the forum, which is the go-to place for human conversations.