Reddit has started converting some text posts into short videos narrated by AI voices. Sarah Perez of TechCrunch reported that the test began on Monday on the web. The iOS and Android apps followed on Tuesday. It covers select English-language posts in a sample of communities.
A toggle appears above an eligible post. “Read” shows the thread as normal. “Play” produces a portrait video in which AI voices read the original question and some of the replies. A line under the video says it is a “Real conversation voiced by AI”.
The example Reddit shared is an eight-year-old post in r/boardgames. It asks for road trip games adults will enjoy, and it drew 101 responses. Jay Peters of The Verge described the result as a three-minute clip of AI voices reading out the answers.
Mashable described the effect as karaoke. Each word lights up as the voice reaches it. The clip runs in portrait orientation, the shape TikTok made standard.
What Reddit says it is doing
A spokesperson gave Mashable a description of the mechanics. “The experiment uses AI to create new audio and video formats and bring real human conversations to life, including multi-voice text-to-speech, captions, and visual template,” the company said.
Reddit also offered a reason for wanting it. “Someone might want to listen to Reddit while exercising, walking, running errands, or watch written conversations come to life through video and audio,” the statement said.
The company framed the whole thing as provisional. “We are testing whether these formats are useful and how Reddit can authentically scale these experiences,” it said. Reddit told TechCrunch the tests are early and limited.
TechCrunch got the same message in different words. Reddit wants to learn which kinds of posts resonate with users. It also wants to know whether the formats can be done in a way that feels authentic to the platform.
The company added a goal to that. It wants to understand how different conversation formats can make Reddit “more accessible and immersive in more moments”, the statement said.
The originals stay put. The text posts and comments “remain unchanged”, a spokesperson told Karissa Bell of Engadget. The new formats link back to them.
Where the idea came from
Steve Huffman set this out on Reddit’s second-quarter earnings call in July. “There is an emerging content type elsewhere on the internet of, basically, podcasts where people read Reddit content,” the chief executive told analysts.
He was describing what already happens on other platforms. TikTok and Instagram Reels are full of clips in which Reddit threads get read aloud. A text-to-speech voice or a creator does the reading, often over unrelated gameplay footage. Huffman said a listened-to or spoken version of Reddit could be engaging too.
The company said much the same in writing. Its quarterly shareholder letter described reimagining how users consume content through a modernised video experience, Peters noted.
How the videos are put together
Reddit AI videos contain no AI-generated imagery, James Peckham of PCMag found. The visuals are screenshots of the Reddit posts themselves, working like subtitles while the voices read. Different voices handle the original post and the replies.
The selection looks hand-picked for now. Peckham wrote that Reddit appears to be starting with manually curated posts. He pointed to a second example from r/explainlikeimfive, asking why football does not use a stopped clock.
He also noticed a pattern in what qualifies. In every example PCMag viewed, the replies were text only, with no photos, GIFs or videos among them.
What reporters flagged
Peters raised the obvious failure modes. A machine reading a thread aloud could mispronounce things, he wrote, or cite the wrong comment. He added that the format is probably easier for anyone unused to internet forums.
Bell raised a different question. It is not yet clear how Reddit is choosing where to run the test, she wrote. The company may be targeting the kind of threads that surface in search results.
Bell also placed the test in context. Reddit changes its core product rarely, she wrote, and still maintains a 21-year-old version of its site for longtime users. She read the experiment as an effort to draw new users and keep casual visitors returning.
Outlets do not even agree on the length. The Verge and Engadget both describe the boardgames clip as three minutes. PCMag timed it at almost three and a half.
Reddit has had a busy AI year
This is not the company’s first video attempt. It rolled out native video hosting in 2017 and tried a TikTok-style feed in 2023, TechCrunch noted. Video comments arrived in June and now account for more than a tenth of video posts.
The AI work has moved faster. Reddit’s Rules Hub uses AI to enforce moderation by intent rather than keyword, and it expanded to all new subreddits this month. In July the company set its own AI against AI marketing slop on the platform.
The commercial backdrop is a search problem. Reddit beat its numbers in the second quarter and the stock fell 20 percent anyway, because of Google and its AI Overviews. The company is joining the S&P 500 with its shares down 31 percent this year.
Platforms are also rethinking what a view is worth. From 24 August, YouTube counts a view the moment a video starts playing, with no minimum watch time.
Reddit has not said how long the test runs, how many posts it covers, or which model produces the voices. It has said the experiment will expand if it works.
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