Reddit is already the one quick place Google Search and its Search AI shoves in front of users for all their inane questions. Now, Reddit is doing away with the middle man and plans to turn all your posts into a question-and-answer bulletin with AI summaries. Can you trust everything people say on Reddit? Now, it’s time to put that to the test.
The social news site’s short blog post describes how its new Reddit Answers system will work. You put a text prompt into a search box, and the AIt will return “curated” summarized answers based on Reddit posts and conversations. The tool then links the relevant conversations at the bottom of the page for you to click on. Reddit said this would “empower communities and provide human perspectives to everyone,” though only after it’s thrown through the information sieve that is AI.
It’s essentially the same thing as what Google and Bing do for their own AI-enabled search. However, Reddit is drawing only on its posts for content. Considering the iffy quality of information you might find on various forums, that seems like a recipe for strange and likely wrong results.
Reddit doesn’t normally identify the quality of the post or poster in terms of accuracy or writing quality. All that matters is a post’s upvotes and the users’ standing in any one subreddit. In an email with Gizmodo, a spokesperson for Reddit confirmed Reddit Answers will look first to answers found at the top of search results and comments from posts. For that, upvotes are “one of the key mechanisms.” Otherwise, the AI is supposed to surface “balanced answers” that will share “multiple viewpoints” depending on the question.
For example, Reddit provided a GIF with the question, “What are some tips for better sleep.” The AI-generated answer included the usual advice for creating a bedtime routine and reducing screen time before bed. It is also recommended to take known sleep-aiding supplements like tart cherry juice.
Reddit Answers may not produce as helpful answers for more controversial topics. Currently, Google’s own AI-enabled search doesn’t provide AI overviews for many political questions. Instead, it relies upon the usual search ranking algorithms. These supposedly consider the accuracy of the information (though results have gotten worse over time). Reddit, on the other hand, relies heavily on engagement as a key metric.
The tool is only available to a limited number of Reddit users in the U.S., but the site said it was expanding to more languages and locations over time. You can compare this tool to Google Search or look at The Washington Post’s new “Ask the Post AI.” It’s supposed to take all the Post’s past reporting and spit out AI answers based on your queries.
After generating an answer for a few seconds, the Post’s AI will respond to questions about Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, forcing his paper to abandon plans for a 2024 presidential endorsement and resulting in a hoard of subscribers abandoning ship.
The Post’s AI speaks in a dry, journalistic style. If you ask it about the ongoing genocide against Palestinians, it will relay Amnesty International’s recent report about Israel’s acts in Gaza as well as the Israeli government’s response. It also provides the context that “the conflict has resulted in the deaths of over 44,000 Palestinians and the displacement of 90% of the population.” Like too much journalistic writing, the passive voice isn’t helping express the cause and effect of Israel’s ground war against a civilian population.
Though it’s nominally a forum, Reddit now has to manage information on its platform, especially as its AI collects and regurgitates it for easy consumption.
