Reddit CEO says chatbots are not a traffic driver (techcrunch.com)

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman told analysts that AI chatbots “are not a traffic driver today,” with Google search and direct visits remaining the platform’s primary referrers (roughly split 50/50). The comment came alongside a strong Q3 2025 report — $585M revenue (up 68% YoY), 116M daily active unique users and 444M weekly users (20% YoY growth) — underscoring that Reddit’s audience and ad business are resilient even as AI search gains traction. Huffman also reiterated that Reddit has tightened commercial access to its data since May 2024 (licenses required), though it still maintains partnerships like a model-training deal with OpenAI. For the AI/ML community, Reddit is positioning itself as both a controlled data provider and a product-led platform: about 20% of Reddit’s search volume is already handled by its AI-powered Answers and core search box, and 75M people search weekly on the site. The company plans to more tightly integrate AI with its search experience in coming quarters and is experimenting with simpler onboarding to boost early engagement. That signals two technical implications: LLM builders need to respect evolving licensing and partnership models to access Reddit data, and platform-native AI features may become a bigger value driver — shifting opportunities from external chatbots toward on-site, search-integrated AI products.