Some moderators say generative AI helps folks spam undesirable content material on a subreddit, together with posts which are irrelevant to the subreddit and posts that assault customers.

“[Generative AI] content material is nearly solely posted for purely self promotional/financial causes, and we as mods on Reddit are always coping with abusive customers simply spamming their content material with out regard for the foundations,” Abrownn mentioned.

A moderator of the r/wallpaper subreddit, which allows generative AI, disagrees. The mod informed me that generative AI “gives new routes for novel content material” within the subreddit and questioned issues about generative AI stealing from human artists or providing lower-quality work, saying these issues aren’t distinctive to generative AI:

Even in our group, we observe human-generated content material that’s subjectively low high quality (poor digital camera/[P]hotoshopping expertise, low-resolution supply materials, intentional “shitposting”). It may be argued that AI-generated content material amplifies this habits, however our expertise (which we have not quantified) is that the speed of such habits (whether or not human-generated or AI-generated content material) has not modified a lot inside our personal group.

However we’re not a really energetic group—[about] 13 posts per day … so it very nicely may very well be a “frog in boiling water” scenario.

Generative AI “wastes our time”

Many mods are assured of their skill to successfully establish posts that use generative AI. An even bigger downside is how a lot time it takes to establish these posts and take away them.

The r/AskHistorians mods, for instance, famous that every one bans on the subreddit (together with bans unrelated to AI) have “an appeals course of,” and “making these assessments and reviewing AI appeals means we’re spending a substantial period of time on one thing we didn’t have to fret about just a few years in the past.”

They added:

Frankly, the largest problem with [generative AI] utilization is that it wastes our time. The time spent evaluating responses for AI use, responding to AI evangelists who attempt to flood our subreddit with inaccurate slop after which argue with us in modmail, [direct messages that message a subreddits’ mod team], and discussing edge instances might higher be spent on different subreddit initiatives, like our podcast, publication, and AMAs, … offering suggestions to customers, or moderating enter from customers who intend to positively contribute to the group.

A number of different mods I spoke with agree. Mathgeek007, for instance, named “combating AI bros” as a standard impediment. And for r/wheeloftime moderator Halaku, the largest problem in moderating towards generative AI is “a generational one.”