Reddit is testing an artificial intelligence (AI) feature that will make it easier for users to search for topics and find information. On Monday, the discussion forum-styled social media platform introduced the new feature, dubbed Reddit Answers. The AI feature is a conversational chatbot with which users can interact by asking text-based queries. The AI will generate a curated response by summarising relevant posts on the platform. Reddit Answers is currently rolling out to a small subset of users in the US, and the company has stated that it will be expanded to more regions in the future.
Reddit Introduces AI-Powered Reddit Answers
In a post on its Upvoted blog, the social media platform detailed the new AI feature. With this, the company aims to offer a new way to get information, recommendations, discussions, and opinions on the platform on a wide range of topics. The tool also has a use case as a search tool and can find relevant posts for users.
Reddit Answers AI feature
Photo Credit: Reddit
Reddit Answers is a conversational chatbot, where users can ask questions and find answers. This means users can ask about “How to build a DIY wooden table” and the AI will look across the platform to find relevant posts about the topic. After sourcing multiple posts that directly answer the question, the tool will summarise the content and merge them to provide a detailed response.
The social media platform says that these responses will also include links to related communities and posts. These posts will be placed at the bottom of a response in boxed layouts where the user can see the total upvotes and the number of comments to gauge which post they would like to read further.
Users can also ask follow-up questions to dive deeper into the topic or to fine-tune the sourced content by date, region, or even subreddits. Reddit Answers will also suggest follow-up questions in case the user is uncertain.
“People know that Reddit has answers, advice, and perspectives on almost anything they’re looking for, and AI-powered search is part of our longer-term vision to improve the search experience on Reddit,” the company stated in the blog post.