In the recent Second Quarterly 2024 earnings call, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman revealed that the company is considering utilizing AI in its search results.
While the details are still scarce, this feature could help improve the content’s findings.
Huffman stated during the call:
“Later this year, we will begin testing new search result pages powered by AI to summarize and recommend content.”
He recommended this would enable users to search for information on products, shows, and games and join new communities.
Therefore, Reddit’s move to invest in AI search is not unique since most technology firms incorporate AI features into their services.
Financial Context
This followed the company’s report on the second quarter of the financial year 2024/2025 on Reddit’s social media platform.
The company’s revenues increased 54% yearly, amounting to $281. 2 million for the quarter.
The number of users also rose, although exact numbers were not in this report.
Potential Challenges
Although AI could enhance finding content, implementing it could be challenging.
These might include the technical feasibility of implementing AI curation, users’ concerns about the results of AI curation, or how the targeted Artificial intelligence utilization might impact the visibility of the specific community or content type on the platform.
Reddit has not provided a clear timeline for testing or implementing this feature or explained how it will be developed or integrated into the site. Any modification of the on-site search on Reddit is significant since only two search options exist.
Reddit’s latest robots. txt update has blocked most search engines from indexing the site’s recent content.
Yet Google remains prone to this update, which is all accredited to the $60 Million Deal for AI training data.