Post Content Despite the rise of generative AI, Reddit remains one of the most useful social media platforms of all time. (Express Photo)
With AI-generated content flooding the internet, Reddit remains one of the few places where people gather to discuss anything and everything. However, like other social media platforms, it’s not immune to bots, some of which churn out content that drag down the quality of conversations.
Now, in an effort to fight back against bots, Reddit says it will require certain accounts that show “automated or otherwise fishy behaviour” to verify that it is in fact operated by a human.
The announcement, made by Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, is aimed at combating unwanted content flooding Reddit.
“As AI becomes a bigger part of the Internet, we want to make sure that when you’re on Reddit, you know when you’re talking to a person and when you’re not.”
However, human verification will only take place if the platform suspects that a bot is running an account, as Huffman said, which will be “rare” and won’t affect “most users”. But if an account cannot prove that it is in fact a human, it “may be restricted.”
To do so, Reddit says it will use a third-party solution that won’t expose the person’s real identity, username or activity. The platform is also exploring a bunch of new methods, one of which includes passkeys.
But Huffman says passkeys will be more like a starting point, since it won’t offer any “proof of individuality or anything other than a human probably did something.”
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Reddit is also looking at third-party biometric services like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s World ID, an iris scanning system. As a last resort, the platform may also make use of third-party government ID services.
To give you a quick recap, the platform is already using a similar system in the UK, but the Reddit CEO says it is the “least secure, least private and least preferred” way of verifying humans on Reddit.
He added that the “best long-term solutions will be decentralized, individualized, private and ideally not require an ID at all.” Talking about bots, Huffman says bots allowed on the platform will now also get an App label.
Reddit is also trying to fight against AI-generated content on the platform, but is currently not going up against humans who use AI chatbots to create posts and post comments.
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While the platform hasn’t confirmed how much content is AI-generated, it looks like the battle against the AI slop is challenging even for moderators, even if the subreddit has banned its use.
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