Tools & Platforms
Can Reddit Provide a Human-Centric Haven from AI Chatbots?
In our increasingly artificial digital age, sometimes internet denizens desire an actual human touch.
Enter Reddit.
Sure, unlike Instagram, you won’t find your real-life friends on Reddit posting pics of their new puppy or snapshots from their epic vacation to Ibiza. And unlike Facebook, you won’t be able to keep tabs on nearly lost friends from grade school (though, on Reddit, you also won’t learn too much about your uncle’s political leanings). Unlike TikTok, Reddit won’t offer all that much insight about the latest real-world dance trends. And unlike X-née-Twitter, you won’t find up-to-the-minute insights and opinions from leading news and tastemakers (as far as we know, Reddit has never been the medium for presidential decrees, either, though President Obama did sit for an Ask Me Anything session in 2012).
But the platform does have its power: Just ask the folks who worked at Melvin Capital, which lost some $6.8 billion in 2021 after a merry band of Reddit posters rallied to squeeze the now-defunct hedge fund’s short position on GameStop stock.
These days, however, the company’s brand has successfully transcended its association with basement-dwelling posters. It’s the very same populist bent behind r/WallStreetBets that has made Reddit a fascinating business story since its IPO just over a year ago: Day One adopters of Reddit stock have seen the value of their holdings jump some 430%.
And why? In a world of AI chatbots and increasingly fruitless Google searches, Reddit has carved out a niche unmatched nearly anywhere else on the internet: a place to find real answers and real discussion from real human users. In fact, the platform has emerged as something of a People’s Search Engine, with its scores of topic-specific forums, called subreddits, providing internet users invaluable debate and discourse on everything from the best types of kitchenware to identifying the creepy-crawly that just scuttled under your oven.
In other words, its army of human users is an alternative to ChatGPT. All the while, the company finds itself riding the AI wave anyhow.
But is that enough to turn the longtime social media also-ran into a tech giant?
Ask Reddit Anything
Reddit’s status as an alternative search engine is no joke — though also a bit of a misnomer. As Google searches increasingly become dominated by sponsored results and sites seemingly designed to game the engine’s SEO rules, savvy internet users now often append their search queries with “Reddit” (Examples: Google searches for “how to spot a fake Labubu reddit” or “best hip flexor stretches reddit” or “could rotten egg smell be a gas leak reddit”).
It’s not just a microtrend. Data recently seen by New York Magazine suggested that traffic from Google to Reddit increased from 57 million in July 2023 to 427 million in April 2024. Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman even bragged in an interview with The Motley Fool last year that “Reddit” was the sixth-most Googled term in the US.
It’s enough to create a symbiotic relationship between the two companies, each now dependent on the other. Case in point: According to a study by SearchEngineLand last year, Reddit pages appear in more than 97% of Google product review queries, no “reddit” addendum necessary, suggesting the search engine has picked up on how sought-after Reddit’s user discourse is to its search users.
“People trust people more than they trust algorithms,” Ben Dutter, chief strategy officer of marketing, consulting and data intelligence firm Power Digital, told The Daily Upside. “Spaces like Reddit provide lived experiences, context, and debate they can then use to inform their decisions that Google’s [search results] and most AI chatbots struggle to replicate.”
Live By the Algorithm, Die by the Algorithm
That does leave Reddit vulnerable to the shifting whims of the Google algorithm, something it already knows all too well. The company reported slower-than-expected user growth in its fourth-quarter earnings call in February, which it blamed on a “periodic algorithm change” at Google; the search giant had recently rolled out its AI Overview answers, which had triggered sharp traffic declines for many web publishers.
The miss prompted a wave of “sell” ratings from Wall Street analysts, and an epic 50% share price skid from a recent high (it has since recovered the losses, with its share price up roughly 8% from its February high).
Subsequent earnings reports have shown a return to strong user growth (the company claimed 110.4 million global daily active users in its second-quarter earnings report in late June, up 21% year-over-year and beating consensus expectations). Meanwhile, the company has vowed to improve its internal search engine, while pointing out that its AI-powered Reddit Answer tool, launched in December, had grown to 6 million weekly active users from just 1 million the quarter prior.
r/MadisonAvenueBets
But can Reddit monetize its curious visitors? Like the rest of the social media world, Reddit relies on advertising for the majority of its revenue. Ad revenue rose 84% year-over-year in its most recent quarter, to $465 million, with the company saying it’s performing especially well among smaller businesses seeking direct sales rather than larger ones seeking impressions.
That puts it at about half the ad revenue of Pinterest, and below Snap’s roughly $1.3 billion in ad sales in its most recent quarter. It’s ultra-small potatoes compared with the approximately $47 billion in ad sales Meta posted in its most recent quarter.
But Reddit still posted a larger profit than Pinterest, while Snap posted a net loss. Meanwhile, experts told The Daily Upside that Reddit’s topic-based structure and inherent authenticity mean its ad business still has room to carve out an industry niche.
“Reddit is attracting marketing spend through its highly engaged, interest-based communities that enable targeted, context-rich ad placements — a clear contrast to broad, algorithm-driven platforms,” Ido Caspi, research analyst at Global X ETFs, told The Daily Upside. “While it’s difficult to rival the scale or diversification of Meta or Google, its niche audience targeting may help buffer it from some macro ad headwinds.”
“[Reddit] will need to determine a unique competitive position to overcome larger players who provide broader reach opportunities for advertisers,” Matt Voda, CEO of cross-channel marketing firm OptiMine, told The Daily Upside. “It does have some advantages: precise targeting based on millions of topics, micro-targeting based on geo-specific topic areas, and search-like buying-intent signals that traditional social media players do not have.”
The Training Data Gravy Train
Reddit has another ace up its sleeve, thanks to the authenticity of its user discourse: AI companies can’t get enough of it.
In its most recent quarter, the company reported $35 million in revenue from sources other than ad sales, which include fees from licensing its real-time data to both Google and OpenAI. Both use the endless user discourse as valuable training fuel for their respective AI models. (Separately, Reddit filed a lawsuit against Anthropic in June, claiming the firm was illegally scraping its data to train its AI models.)
A recent report from AI research firm Profound found that Reddit was the most cited source in Google’s AI Overviews, and the second-most cited source in ChatGPT answers behind Wikipedia.
“Reddit has one of the deepest, most diverse archives of structured human conversation anywhere online. Every comment thread is a mix of questions, answers, counterpoints, and context,” Dutter said. “It’s the exact kind of data large language models (LLMs) crave.”
In other words, Reddit is having its AI-era cake and eating it too, simultaneously offering a human-centric alternative to the chatbot experience and selling that experience back to authenticity-starved AI chatbot companies.
Bot Not So Fast: However, Reddit’s authenticity appeal comes with a major “but.” Or should we say bot — and not one, but potentially many.
In May, the company was hit with a scandal when researchers from the University of Zurich revealed they had flooded a popular political subreddit with bots designed to debate users; the bot swarm left more than 1,700 comments. Meanwhile, ad industry executives recently told the Financial Times that their brands were increasingly interested in posting on Reddit, with the hopes that chatbots trained on Reddit data would eventually regurgitate their marketing.
Suffice to say, Reddit risks becoming less authentic in the AI age.
While it remains unclear just how active bots are on its platform, Reddit has vowed to bolster its human-verification tools in the wake of the University of Zurich research, which the company called an “improper and highly unethical experiment.”
Still, we’re sure it’s tough for Gabe Plotkin — a.k.a. the founder and CEO of Melvin Capital — to hear that bots could have played a significant role in the GameStop short-squeeze rallying cry. Though that prompts a rather existential question: Sure, some r/WallStreetBets users may have been bots, but did those bots also have Robinhood accounts?
We’ll get back to you on that after consulting our favorite subreddit.
Tools & Platforms
Globevisa CEO Unveils its AI Strategy, Transforming Traditional Services Into a Tech-Driven Powerhouse
— In a decisive move set to redefine the future of service industries, Globevisa Group CEO and co-founder Henry Fan has launched a groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI) transformation strategy that embeds AI at the core of the company’s operations. This bold initiative is not only improving efficiency and customer service but also positioning Globevisa as a global innovator in tech-driven business leadership.
Rather than relegating AI to a standalone IT function, Henry established an in-house AI Empowerment Center—a “special forces” unit that reports directly to him. This reflects his belief that AI is a business-wide opportunity, not a departmental add-on. As the architect of this transformation, Henry serves as strategist, change agent, and internal evangelist, overseeing a company-wide shift in how AI is deployed, adopted, and embraced.
The Strategist: Defining a Clear Vision for AI
Henry’s leadership begins with a clear vision for an “AI-driven Globevisa,” which he positions as the company’s North Star. This vision guides every decision, from budget allocation to the selection of core technologies. Henry ensures that AI efforts are tightly aligned with Globevisa’s business objectives, such as revenue growth, operational efficiency, and brand enhancement.
His approach is pragmatic and phased, focusing on high-value pilot projects before scaling up. He champions a “showcase to full coverage” strategy, quickly demonstrating tangible results in areas like marketing, customer service, and human resources. By tying AI initiatives directly to measurable business outcomes, such as reducing document processing times, increasing content production efficiency, or improving sales conversion rates, Henry ensures that Globevisa’s AI efforts are not just theoretical but practical and impactful.
Tackling Operational Inefficiencies with AI
Henry’s journey into AI began with a recognition of inefficiencies in the company’s internal processes, which were bogged down by repetitive, manual tasks. He saw AI not as a buzzword but as a tool to address these core operational challenges.
1.Document Processing
Globevisa’s success involves processing countless client documents, such as bank statements and passports, a task prone to human error and delays. To combat this, Henry spearheaded the development of an AI document extraction and auditing tool. This technology scans documents, extracts key information, and cross-checks it against system requirements, significantly reducing manual review time and errors. The result is faster, more accurate processing, enabling the team to handle a higher volume of clients.
2.Customer Service
Globevisa’s customer service team was overwhelmed by repetitive inquiries, leaving little time for complex, high-value interactions. Henry’s team introduced a 24/7 AI-powered chatbot capable of handling up to 80% of standard queries. This freed human staff to focus on nuanced, emotional, and complex client concerns, enhancing overall customer satisfaction.
3.Marketing Content Creation
The process of generating marketing content was slow and often lacked variety. Henry addressed this by deploying an “AI Content Factory” that generates blog posts, social media updates, and ad copy from simple keywords. This tool dramatically increased content production efficiency while reducing costs, ensuring Globevisa remains competitive in its digital marketing efforts.
The Breaker of Barriers: Overcoming Organizational Challenges
While implementing AI solutions, Henry quickly realized that the biggest obstacles were not technological but organizational and cultural. Resistance to change, data silos, and fears of job displacement were among the challenges he faced.
1.Breaking Data Silos
With 110,000 successful cases in hand, Globevisa sits on a treasury of data. However, many departments at Globevisa operated in isolation, hoarding data and refusing to share it. For instance, the AI team often needed years of sales data to train models, but obtaining access required navigating internal politics. Henry personally stepped in as a “Breaker of Barriers,” reframing data-sharing as an investment in the company’s future rather than a threat. He emphasized that AI would provide departments with sharper tools to achieve their goals, fostering a spirit of collaboration.
2.Addressing Job Displacement Fears
Employees, particularly senior staff such as copywriters, were initially hostile toward AI, viewing it as a potential replacement for their roles. Henry tackled this by redefining their positions and elevating their value. He assured employees that AI would handle 80% of mundane tasks, allowing them to focus on the remaining 20% of creative, high-value work. Copywriters, for example, were rebranded as “AI Creative Strategists” and “Final Quality Controllers,” responsible for refining and overseeing AI-generated drafts. This reframing not only eased fears but also inspired employees to embrace AI as a tool for professional growth.
3.Adjusting KPIs to Reward Adoption
In traditional service industries, departments often cling to outdated KPIs, which can hinder the adoption of new technologies. Henry addressed this head-on by personally revising performance metrics for teams involved in AI pilots. For example, customer service teams previously measured on “calls handled per hour” were now evaluated on metrics like “complex problem-solving rates” and “customer satisfaction scores.” This ensured that employees were rewarded for adopting new behaviors, not for sticking to inefficient practices.
The Chief Evangelist: Fostering a Culture of Innovation
Henry understands that technology alone cannot drive change; it requires a cultural shift. As Globevisa’s “Chief Evangelist,” he regularly communicates the importance of AI initiatives through all-hands meetings, internal newsletters, and personal demonstrations. By openly using AI tools, such as leveraging AI for meeting summaries, he leads by example, fostering a company-wide culture of innovation.
His leadership style is characterized by inclusivity and transparency. Instead of imposing top-down mandates, he actively involves employees in the transformation process, ensuring that AI is seen not as a threat but as an enabler. This human-centric approach has been instrumental in building trust and enthusiasm for AI across the organization.
A Model for the Future of Services
Henry’s approach provides a replicable roadmap for other service-based companies navigating digital transformation. His model centers on measurable value, cultural readiness, and human-AI collaboration, proving that even traditional industries can lead in a tech-first economy.
About Globevisa
Globevisa Group is a global leader in immigration and relocation services, with over 110,000 successful cases worldwide. Committed to service excellence and innovation, the company helps individuals and families navigate complex immigration processes with confidence.
Contact Info:
Name: Lena Huang
Email: Send Email
Organization: GLOBEVISA GROUP (HONG KONG) LIMITED
Website: https://www.globevisa.com/
Release ID: 89168612
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A high school in suburban Chicago was awarded a grant to implement AI-powered gun detection technology.
Oak Lawn Community High School District 229 was one of 50 recipients selected nationwide for the Omnilert Secure Schools Grant Program, the school said in a recent announcement.
The district was awarded a three-year license for Omnilert Gun Detect, an “advanced AI-powered gun detection technology” — at no cost.
The AI system identifies firearms “in real-time through existing security camera infrastructure,” the announcement said.
Once a potential threat is identified, the AI system activates a rapid response process by alerting school officials and law enforcement, ultimately ensuring that threats can be addressed “as quickly and effectively as possible,” the announcement said.
The implementation of the AI system aligns with District 229’s security strategy, that includes a combination of physical safety measures, emergency preparedness and mental health resources, the announcement said.
The school said staff training and safety drills will be done to ensure the technology is used effectively and responsibly.
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