Redditors around the world were scandalized last week after they learned that a team of scientists released a swarm of man -powered bots in Subreddit “Change My View”. . Large -scale experiment It has been designed to examine how convincing artificial intelligence can be.
The bots have published over 1,700 comments, accepting people like people who survived abuse or controversial identities, such as anti-black supporter Matter.
In the case of Reddit, the incident was mini-nucia. The Reddit brand is associated with authenticity – a place where real people share real opinions. If this ecosystem focused on man is disturbed Go back Or it becomes a place where people cannot trust that they receive information from real people, it can do more than threaten the basic identity of Reddit. The Reddit can be threatened because the company is now selling its content of OpenAI for training.
The company condemned the “improper and very unethical experiment” and filed a complaint about the university that led it. But this experiment was only one of many generative cases of AI boots pretending to be Reddit for various reasons, from scientific to politically manipulative.
To protect users from the Bot's manipulation and “Keep Reddit Human”, the company silently signaled the upcoming action – one that may be unpopular with users who come to Reddit for another reason: anonymity.
On Monday, Reddit General Director, Steve Huffman Shared in the post This Reddit will start working with “various third party services” to verify the user of the user. This is a significant step for the platform, which historically did not require almost any personal data for users to create an account.
“To maintain Reddit man and meet the evolving regulatory requirements, we will need a little more information,” wrote Huffman. “In particular, we will have to know if you are human, and in some locations, if you are an adult. But we never want to know your name or who you are.”
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(Social media companies have already started implementing identity controls after at least nine states and Great Britain and have adopted legal provisions that require age verification to protect children on their platforms).
Reddit spokesman refused to explain in what circumstances the company would require users to take over the verification process, although they confirmed that Reddit is already taking funds prohibiting “bad” bots. The spokesperson would also not provide more details about which external services would use the company or what personally identifying information will have users to offer.
Many companies are currently based on verification platforms, such as personality, stop, belt identity, grille and a trace that usually require an ID government to verify age and humanity. Then there is a newer and more speculative technology, like the Altman herself tools for humanity and its “proof of human” device.
Opponents of identifier control say that there is a risk related to data and security privacy to provide personal data on social media platforms. This is especially true in the case of a platform such as Reddit, in which people come after experiences that they may never have if their names were attached to them.
It is not difficult to imagine a world in which authorities can call Reddit because of identity, for example, a teenager in pregnancy asking about the abortion of r/women in the states where he is now illegal. Look how the Meta gave private conversations between a woman from Nebraska and her 17-year-old daughter, which discussed the plans for the end of pregnancy. Meta aid led law enforcement agencies to acquire a search order, which resulted in allegations of crime for both mother and daughter.
This is exactly the risk that Reddit hopes to avoid by knocking out of companies to provide “relevant information and nothing else”, according to Huffman, who emphasized that “we never want to know your name or who you are.”
“Anonymity is necessary for Reddit,” he said.
The general director also noted that Reddit will still be “extremely protective for your personal data” and “will continue to push excessive or unjustified demands from public or private authorities.”
