Reddit is turning what its users say about products into AI-made reviews. It says it will not take a cut when people buy through them. Reddit Reviews started testing on Tuesday and summarises talk about around 10,000 products, the company said in a blog post.
“Reddit Reviews is an organic experience, and Reddit does not receive a cut of any purchases made through the buy it now button on product pages,” a Reddit spokesperson told TNW.
Many review pages show prices and purchase links, where brand and retailer catalogues supply them. Businesses cannot pay to have products featured, Reddit says.
What a review shows
Each review opens with a “what people are saying” summary. A chart shows how many conversations are positive, mixed or negative. Themes list what people commonly like and dislike. For an espresso machine, a theme might be how easy it is for beginners, Reddit says.
Readers can browse every comment about a product and filter by topic. They can open the original thread, ask a follow-up question or see products people often compare. Categories group products around needs that come up in conversations, such as budget picks or most loved. If a product has no review yet, Reddit's AI search answers instead.
The reviews will roll out over the next few weeks to US users on iOS, Android and the web. The first batch covers electronics, health and beauty, home and garden, and fashion and apparel. Reddit plans to add more products and categories and to expand beyond the US through 2027.
Which AI writes them
Reddit did not name a model. The spokesperson told TNW the reviews rely on several technologies.
“Reddit Reviews uses a mix of generative AI and other in-house technology to identify themes and summarize what people are saying in Reddit conversations,” the spokesperson said. “The technologies and models we use may evolve over time to best support the experience.”
Reddit already uses AI on its archive in other ways. In August it began testing AI videos that narrate old text threads.
No login needed, for now
Reddit Reviews does not require users to log in, the spokesperson said. Last month, chief executive Steve Huffman said Reddit would make users log in for most of the site.
“Our next step will be to test this in select markets outside the U.S. in the coming months,” Huffman wrote in a Reddit post.
Huffman said most unauthorised scraping of Reddit happens through logged-out pages. Reddit is also shutting down its RSS feeds on 13 November, a move it blamed on AI scraping.