Reddit tests AI-powered search results, mulls paid subreddits

Big changes could be on the way for Reddit. 

The site is testing a major injection of AI into the platform and considering putting certain content behind a paywall.

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Just as Google tried (and eventually failed) to do earlier this year, Reddit is bringing AI to its search results.

In an earnings call earlier this week, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman announced plans to test AI-powered search results that summarize content for the site’s 1 billion searches every month. This follows an announcement four months ago that Reddit would be using AI to moderate communities. 

Many people, Huffman explained, use Reddit like a search engine, “literally typing into a box exactly what they’re interested in.” With the new results, users will see both the answers they’re looking for and new communities related to that search, hopefully helping them dive deeper into the site.

Reddit will use a combination of first-party and third-party products to power the feature, which should roll out later this year. 

A natural question — given Reddit’s typical demographic — is: How does the company plan to keep its AI from going rogue and offering up recipes for glue pizza or gasoline spaghetti — as Google was accused of doing? Ironically, some of the misinformation that led Google’s AI astray came from Reddit.

Also during the call, Huffman teased putting certain content behind a paywall. 

Also: 3 ways Google just supercharged your Chrome browser with AI – and they’re surprisingly useful

In response to a question about how the site could help creators earn money as Twitch and YouTube creators do, he said the “existing, altruistic, free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive just the way it has. But now we will unlock the door for new use cases, new types of subreddits that can be built that may have exclusive content or private areas, things of that nature.”

One of the most “magical” things about the site, Huffman went on to say, is the way users help each other, give advice, and help others through tough decisions. Paid content wouldn’t include the existing portion of Reddit, it seems, but instead, it would include new, expanded content.