Google announced last week that it deploys a new research tool fueled by AI, which it simply calls IA mode.
It could be bad for Reddit.
Reddit has increased significantly in the past year, thanks in large part to the prioritization of Google Reddit Links in its research results and because researchers often seek human entry on an internet increasingly dominated by AI and automated robots.
In Google I / O last week, the CEO of Google Sundar Pichai described the AI mode as a “total overhaul” of the company’s search tool. AI mode will offer users an more conversational experience, rather than the traditional links of links. This means that Google can provide user information found on Reddit, without this user ever having to visit the site.
This will mainly affect users disconnected from Reddit, who are more occasional visitors without their own accounts. Connected users are everyday fans of Reddit. Much of Reddit’s growth is with disconnected users from Google Search.
On Monday, Reddit’s shares dropped by about 5% after Wells Fargo said it expected Reddit trafficking while “Google more aggressively implements AI features in research”.
It was not the first time that Google’s research functionality has lowered Reddit’s action. The actions of the company fell by more than 15% in February after Huffman said during a profit call that the site had seen the traffic of “volatility” in the fourth quarter after Google had changed its research algorithm.
Although algorithms are often changing (simply asking a digital press organization), Wells Fargo said that recent user disturbances on Reddit are “probably more permanent” as research behavior changes in response to Google’s progress on AI.
Reddit, however, says that its recorded users, who come directly to Reddit, are the main engine of his business.
“Many of our product work allows us to regularly develop and develop these connected users, who are the basis of our impressions and our stocks because of their very long commitment to Reddit,” said Jen Wong in chief of operation Reddit in March. “It is not existential for us … I think the company is extremely healthy because, again, it is fueled by connected users.”
Reddit also has its own internal AI research tool, Reddit Answers, which responds to searches with a list of relevant information found in the articles on the site.
In the end, Huffman says he is convinced that Reddit will take his place on the Internet because of the human interactions it provides.
“There is no doubt that LLMS will evolve research on the internet. We can all see it. It is great,” he said in a profit call with investors earlier this month. “Sometimes people will want the sterile responses summarized, annotated and sterile, and we even build this ourselves in the Reddit responses. But other times, they want the subjective, authentic and disorderly points of view that Reddit provides.”
“So, in the same way that Reddit in the past decade has been an alternative to social media – social media being performative and manicured, and Reddit being the opposite – Reddit communities and conversations will be an alternative to AI research responses,” he added.
