Researchers from Cornell Tech have released a new report detailing how Reddit communities are evolving their policies in response to the rise of AI-generated content.
One of the most striking findings is the rapid increase in subreddits with rules regarding AI use. According to the study, the number of subreddits with AI rules more than doubled in 16 months, from July 2023 to November 2024.
The team collected metadata and rules from 300,000 public communities across two periods in July 2023 and November 2024. The researchers will present their findings in a paper at the Association of Computing Machinery's CHI conference on "Human Factors in Computing Systems."
"This is important because it shows that concerns about AI are spreading across these communities. It raises the question of whether the communities have the necessary tools to enforce these policies effectively and equitably," said Travis Lloyd, a doctoral student at Cornell Tech.
The study found that AI rules are most common in subreddits focused on art and celebrities. These communities often share visual content, and their rules frequently address concerns about the quality and authenticity of AI-generated images, audio, and video. These rules were also significantly more common in larger subreddits, reflecting the growing concern about AI in communities with larger user bases.
