AI Nonsense Is Deteriorating Reddit for All Users

A Reddit post featuring a bride insisting that a guest don a specific, unflattering color is bound to stir up anger, just as much as a bridesmaid or mother of the groom trying to wear white. Similarly, a scenario where a parent requests a seat change on an airplane to sit next to their young child can evoke a comparable wave of frustration. However, these posts might annoy a Reddit moderator for entirely different reasons—they reflect common themes in a rising trend of AI-generated, fabricated posts.

These examples resonate with Cassie, one of many moderators for r/AmItheAsshole. With over 24 million members, this subreddit is among the largest and strictly prohibits AI-generated content and other fictional stories. Since the public launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, Cassie (who prefers to be identified by her first name only) and the other volunteers moderating Reddit posts have grappled with an influx of AI-generated material. Some posts are entirely online-generated, while others consist of edits made with AI tools like Grammarly.

“It’s probably more widespread than anyone wants to acknowledge, simply because it’s so easy to input your post into ChatGPT and say ‘Hey, make this more exciting,’” says Cassie, who believes that nearly half of all content on Reddit may be created or modified by AI in some form.

r/AmItheAsshole is a cornerstone of Reddit culture, inspiring countless derivatives such as r/AmIOverreacting, r/AmITheDevil, and r/AmItheKameena, a subreddit with over 100,000 members dubbed as “Am I the asshole, but the Indian version.” Posts typically revolve around interpersonal disputes, enabling Redditors to weigh in on who is at fault (“YTA” stands for “You’re the asshole,” while “ESH” means “Everyone sucks here”), who is justified, and what steps to take moving forward. Users and moderators in these r/AmItheAsshole variants have noted an increase in content they suspect is AI-generated, with others claiming it’s a widespread issue affecting various subreddits.

“If you’re in a general wedding subreddit or AITA, relationships, or something similar, you will face significant challenges,” states a moderator of r/AITAH, a variant of r/AmItheAsshole with nearly 7 million members. This moderator, a retiree who requested anonymity, has been active on Reddit for 18 years—essentially its entire history—and possesses decades of experience in the web industry prior to that. She views AI as a potential existential risk to the platform.

“Reddit is going to have to take action, or it will be consumed by its own contradictions,” she warns. “It’s reaching a point where the AI is sustaining itself.”