Reddit is trying out a new way for people to take in content on Reddit: by turning text posts into audio \/ video content. As part of an experiment, some posts are being adapted into videos that use AI voices to read the text of the main post and some comments. The video highlights the text as it\u2019s read by the AI voice, and under the video, a note says that it\u2019s a \u201cReal conversation voiced by AI.\u201d<\/p>\n
An old post in r\/boardgames from eight years ago with 101 responses to a request for good road trip games that adults will like is an example of Reddit\u2019s AI at work<\/a>. Instead of the usual text thread, it has the main question above a three-minute video full of AI voices reading out the responses. You can still access the post from a slider toggle at the top marked \u201cRead\u201d for text or \u201cPlay\u201d for the video. Playing the video is probably easier for someone who isn\u2019t used to internet forums, but it could introduce other problems, like mispronunciations or citing incorrect comments.<\/p>\n The launch follows Reddit recently saying<\/a> in an earnings shareholder letter that it was \u201creimagining how users and communities connect, share, and consume content through a modernized video experience on Reddit.\u201d In an earnings call, CEO Steve Huffman also hinted at<\/a> this new experiment, saying the company was working on a way to let people listen to posts in the background. He noted that there is an \u201cemerging content type\u201d where people read Reddit content \u2014 there are whole channels of videos that are just AI voices reading Reddit posts <\/a> \u2014 and Huffman said a listened-to or spoken version of Reddit \u201ccan be really engaging as well.\u201d<\/p>\n The experiment is currently live for me on the web, and it\u2019s set to roll out on iOS and Android starting Tuesday, spokesperson Rosa Kim tells The Verge. Reddit is manually selecting posts that are converted into the videos.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an early, limited experiment to understand whether people find these formats useful and how we can deliver them in a way that feels authentic to Reddit,\u201d according to Kim. The experiment will start with \u201cselect existing posts first\u201d and will be expanded to more existing posts over time.<\/p>\n Update, August 17th: Added that Reddit is manually selecting which posts become videos.<\/p>\n