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Reddit just wrapped up its second earnings call as a public company and CEO Steve Huffman hinted at some significant changes that could be coming to the platform. During the call, the Reddit co-founder said the company would begin testing AI-powered search results later this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cLater this year, we will begin testing new search result pages powered by AI to summarize and recommend content, helping users dive deeper into products, shows, games and discover new communities on Reddit,\u201d Huffman said. He didn\u2019t say when those tests would begin, but said it would use both first-party and third-party models.<\/p>\n
Huffman noted that search on Reddit has \u201cgone unchanged for a long time\u201d but that it\u2019s a significant opportunity to bring in new users. He also said that search could one day be a significant source of advertising revenue for the company.<\/p>\n
Huffman hinted at other non-advertising sources of revenue as well. He suggested that the company might experiment with paywalled subreddits as it looks to monetize new features. \u201cI think the existing, altruistic, free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive just the way it has,\u201d Huffman said. \u201cBut now we will unlock the door for new use cases, new types of subreddits that can be built that may have exclusive content or private areas, things of that nature.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Reddit spokesperson declined to elaborate on Huffman\u2019s remarks. But it\u2019s no secret the company has been eyeing new ways to expand its business since going public<\/a> earlier this year. It\u2019s struck multi million-dollar licensing deals <\/a> and <\/a>, and <\/a> search engines that aren\u2019t paying the company.<\/p>\n \u201cSome players in the ecosystem have not been transparent with their use of Reddit\u2019s content, and in those instances, we block access to protect Reddit content and user privacy,\u201d Huffman said. \u201cWe want to know where Reddit data is going and what it’s being used for, and so those are the terms of engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n