Reddit wants to become the next Google search

Reddit Answers, only released last December, will now likely become the main feature of the platform and expand globally.

Reddit has been a go-to place for many users, who often turn to its online communities for advice or to share their opinions on certain matters.

The company also drew attention to AI companies such as OpenAI, with which it struck a deal last year, allowing ChatGPT to use its content.

Despite the partnership, Reddit has been looking at ways to make its own search capabilities better.

The company’s CEO, Steve Huffman, shared in a recent letter to shareholders that the company will be using its resources in the areas that would provide results for the “most pressing needs.” That includes “making Reddit a go-to search engine.”

Huffman noted that Reddit has become a place where hundreds of millions of people come weekly looking for advice and that the company is turning this intent into “Reddit’s native search.”

More than 70 million users weekly use Reddit’s core search, while in general, more than 416 million active users visit the platform every week. In December, the company launched Reddit Answers, its AI-powered search tool, which has up to six million weekly users, reports The Verge.

The document revealed that the company will continue working on Reddit Answers to make search the main feature of Reddit by expanding the AI tool globally and “integrating it more deeply into the core search experience.”

Nevertheless, the decision to work on its own search capabilities could mean that the platform will lose traffic from Google, which is known to provide users with AI-generated answers without providing links.

The word “Reddit” is often used on Google to make sure that the answer a user is looking for includes information provided by humans. For this reason, Reddit’s traffic has been growing.