r/AskModerators • u/OrbitalColony • 6d ago

Will AI replace moderators?

Reddit's been rolling out automated AI mod features. It's clearly being trained on the data generated from 20 years of mod logs. Is Reddit about to just replace us soon? It makes me somewhat hesitant to continue growing my subreddits, when the company might just decide to hand the keys over to an LLM. Thoughts?

0 Upvotes

47% Upvoted

41 comments sorted by

View all comments

25

u/westcoastcdn19 Janny flair 🧹 6d ago

No. They get our human labour at no cost. Why would they give that up?

7

u/BravoFive141 Jellybean Master. 6d ago

All the AI stuff definitely makes me a bit leery, but your point is how I keep looking at it. Why would they replace mods who do everything for free with a system they'd have to pay for constantly?

Then again, when does Reddit ever make smart decisions?

3

u/KCJones99 6d ago

Mods aren't no cost. They're unpaid, but not no-cost.

Think how many admins they could lay off if there were no more MCOC complaints to review?

Think how many admins they could lay off if there were no /modsupport issues to deal with. Nobody trying to get 'all' rights b/c inactive top mod, etc.

Think how many people they could lay off if there were no more mod events, mod outreach, etc.

Think how many times mods get a modmail threatening to sue, etc. and say "contact reddit legal"... how many lawyers could they lay off w/o that?

ETC ETC

Reddit is a pretty 'thin' organization. Only about 2,500 actual employees. Dump just a hundred or two of those and the stock market gonna LOVE that... and guess what's A#1 concern by reddit corporate these days...

Mods are not no-cost.

-2

u/lobaway0001 6d ago

Yes, but at that point aren't you just interpreting "no-cost" to some illogical extreme?

They could just not review the MCOC complaints. They could just not deal with the /modsupport issues. They could just not have mod events, mod outreach. And you're assuming it's solely because of the existence of mods that leads to people threatening to sue.

Do all that and you'd still probably have people volunteering to be mods.

You might as well say unpaid volunteers at the homeless shelter are not no cost because their body heat drives up air conditioning expenses.

If it makes you feel better you can interpret what is meant as "moderators clearly bring more value than they cost" or "the value moderators provide are obtained at no direct cost".

2

u/new2bay 6d ago

If they don’t want to replace us, what’s the purpose of all these AI things we neither need nor want to use?

-8

u/OrbitalColony 6d ago

Because human moderators are capable of doing something like the API strike a few years ago. Or coordinating on causes and messaging that corporate might not like. AI doesn't mutiny.

6

u/MavisBeacons_Sextape 6d ago

AI does and has mutinied - if you google it, you’ll find incident reports

6

u/westcoastcdn19 Janny flair 🧹 6d ago

something like

All those things mods did to shut down their communities are no longer doable. We can’t turn our subs private, make them NSFW, or mess with settings that can harm our communities. Nor can inactive mods wake up and punt every last mod standing. And if you try, Mod Code of Conduct will ruthlessly remove you and potentially ban your Reddit account.

0

u/KCJones99 6d ago

Which is actually the best argument FOR them eventually wanting rid of mods and/or totally crippling their control.

The fact they saw behavior they didn't like and then blocked it shows the intent. What do you think happens the next time they don't 'like' something mods can do?