Reddit Will Soon Try Out AI Summaries (and Maybe Paywalls)
Reddit could soon block certain subreddits behind paywalls, but hey, at least it’s testing AI-powered searches.
In Reddit’s second earnings call with investors after its IPO earlier this year, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman’s focus was on ways to make cash. While the company has been slowly transitioning to more profit-forward strategies like a famously unpopular paywalled API, most of the changes thus far haven’t directly affected the desktop site experience. Now, Huffman says Reddit is considering paywalling content, too.
“I think the existing altruistic, free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive," Huffman said. (I suppose ad-supported content is altruistic now). “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.”
Huffman’s comment is concerning for users worried about being nickel-and-dimed, but eagle-eyed readers might have noticed a small silver lining. While the executive is pitching the idea of premium content, the repeated use of the word “new” seems to at least imply the site won’t be putting existing subreddits behind a paywall—an especially important note given how much of the site is user-generated.“Whenever we add basically a new way of using Reddit ... it expands Reddit,” Huffman clarified. “We’ve not seen it cannibalize existing Reddit."That hasn’t stopped users from showing concern, though, with a popular comment in the r/technology subreddit saying “CEOs all be in a rush to see who can kill their platform the quickest,” and another saying “who would pay for this shit?”
The move towards paywalled content would follow another moneymaking decision: a $60 million annual deal with Google that allows the freshly ruled monopoly access to Reddit’s data for AI training. After the deal, results from Reddit also started to disappear from other search engines, with Huffman later saying that the companies behind those engines would need to make similar deals to display Reddit results in their searches.
Huffman did say this was to allow the company say in how its data is used now that AI datasets could be training off them, but the payday is probably nice, too.
Making Reddit harder to find online could explain some of the recent user ire, although Huffman has a solution for that as well. Say it with me, again: AI. In the same call, the CEO suggested the site will start testing AI-powered search result pages that will “summarize and recommend content,” helping users “dive deeper” into Reddit.
The executive didn’t say much more, aside from clarifying that the feature will use some third-party and some first-party tech. He also didn’t give a clear timetable, simply saying experiments will begin later this year.
Despite the potential implementation of Reddit paywalls for certain subreddits, the tech industry is closely monitoring this development. Some tech enthusiasts on Reddit have expressed concerns, with one popular comment stating, "CEOs all be in a rush to see who can kill their platform the quickest," thereby voicing apprehension about the impact of paywalls on user-generated content. Yet, others remain skeptical, echoing "who would pay for this shit?"
As Reddit continues to explore new revenue streams, such as the recent $60 million annual deal with Google for AI training, tech companies will be closely watching how these changes unfold on the platform.
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