Reddit Considers Eye-Scanning Verification to Combat Bot Activity and Ensure Human Authenticity

Reddit aims to implement strict oversight of content publication on its platform. As the CEO of Reddit, Steve Huffman, revealed to ArsTechnica, the company plans to introduce a verification system to ensure that only humans can post on the forums.

Huffman emphasized that Reddit will not require users to post under their real names. However, they are considering the use of World ID, a technology developed by Worldcoin, founded by Sam Altman, which involves eye-scanning technology. This system would allow for user verification while maintaining anonymity. The rollout of this verification process is a key priority for the company in the coming year.

Huffman believes that this verification will help protect the platform from manipulation through fake or AI-generated content. He noted that Reddit is becoming an increasingly significant source of data for training large language models (LLMs), which is attracting interest from advertisers. According to an insider in the advertising sector quoted by ArsTechnica, there is a «mass migration» of brands to the platform, aimed at increasing the chances of their ads being featured in responses from AI chatbots.

Previously, Reddit has entered into multimillion-dollar agreements with Google and OpenAI, allowing them to train their LLMs using Reddit’s content. Meanwhile, the company is working to safeguard its platform from unauthorized scraping; last month, Reddit filed a lawsuit against Anthropic, accusing the startup of improperly using material from the platform to train its Claude neural network, involving over 100,000 requests to the site since July 2024.

In early June, moderators of the Reddit community focused on artificial intelligence, Pro-AI, reported on users of ChatGPT exhibiting erratic behavior—referred to as «schizoposters»—who believe they have made extraordinary discoveries, created a god, or even become one themselves. According to the moderators, they have been quietly banning such users, although the trend is increasing.

«There are many more crazy people than people realize. And AI is currently exacerbating this in a very unhealthy way,» noted one moderator. They mentioned having banned over «100» individuals, with a noticeable «surge» in such users this month.