Reddit moderators have noticed that they have more and more AI-generated text on the platform. What started with just a few posts has turned into constant spam. The problem with this type of content is not only that it is of dubious quality, but also that they are texts that are generated very quickly.
Not only are texts elaborated by artificial intelligence published, but also bot accounts are created that generate spam in an uncontrolled manner, which makes the task of moderators difficult.
Spam and fake content, some of the problems with AI-generated content on Reddit
Since December, Reddit moderators started noticing content that was undoubtedly generated by artificial intelligence. According to Sarah Gilbert, one of the moderators, this type of content is easy to detect because they often contain false information and are not exhaustive.
The forum where the highest number of posts made by artificial intelligence (or ChatGPT more specifically) was found was AskHistorians. It is a space where users can consult with historians and is made up of 2 million people. After the launch of ChatGPT, 5 to 10 new publications were made and this increased as the artificial intelligence tool became more popular. Subsequently, they decreased because many were either deleted directly for low quality or were removed by the moderators.
Not only are there ChatGPT-generated postings but also massively created accounts. Many of these must be manually removed, as Reddit’s systems are not sufficient to cope with AI-generated content.
Bot attacks and quasi-human content are major problems
For the time being, Reddit moderators believe that it is only a matter of time before the content produced by ChatGPT becomes of better quality and difficult to detect. More complicated is the detection of fake accounts posing as real ones, something for which moderation tools are so far useless.
Reddit is working on developing tools to detect content generated by artificial intelligence. In the meantime, it is a job done manually by the moderators, as the current detectors are not sufficient.
Undoubtedly, this is an issue under discussion, since the proliferation of false content can modify the functioning of social networks.
In the last few days it became known that different Reddit users paid for erotic content of Claudia, a young woman who does not exist. The images were created by artificial intelligence. Those who paid for such content did not realize it and thought Claudia was real. Many users alerted about the situation and that the photos were artificial intelligence creations, as they were too processed images to be real people.
According to Sarah Gilbert, one of Reddit’s moderators, posts made by artificial intelligence are becoming realistic and cheap to make. This creates complications in differentiating real accounts from bots, as well as posts with fake content.
