Reddit CEO Says AI Chatbots Not Driving Traffic Despite Partnerships With OpenAI And Google

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has stated that AI chatbots are not currently a significant source of traffic for the social media platform, despite growing interest in AI-driven search from companies like OpenAI and Google.

During Reddit’s Q3 2025 earnings call, Huffman emphasised that Google search and direct visits remain the primary drivers of user engagement.

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“[Chatbots are] not a traffic driver today. I think our relationships with the companies that we work for — or work with directly are healthy, and we both learned a lot over the last couple of years, really the value of Reddit’s data and where our respective products can go and how we can help each other.

“So I’m looking forward to continuing to work on these things with these partners. But they’re not a major traffic driver today,” Huffman told analysts.

When asked whether Reddit’s traffic was split evenly between Google and direct visits, Huffman replied that the figures were “approximate, but pretty close.”

Reddit’s AI Partnerships and Data Policies

The company has navigated a complex relationship with large language model (LLM) developers. In May 2024, the company restricted access to its data, requiring a licence for any commercial use.

Despite this, Reddit signed an agreement with OpenAI to allow the use of its data for model training. The platform also maintains a partnership with Google but is engaged in legal disputes with AI firms such as Anthropic and Perplexity.

Huffman highlighted that the social media platform continues to prioritise search as a core part of the platform. Currently, AI-powered tools like Reddit’s Answers handle 20% of search volumes.

In Q3 alone, 75 million users performed weekly searches on the site. The company is working to unify AI with its search experience, a rollout expected in the coming quarters.

Strong Growth and User Engagement Strategies

Reddit posted a robust Q3 2025 performance, reporting $585 million in revenue, up 68% from the previous year. The platform also reached 116 million daily active users and 444 million weekly active users, reflecting 20% year-on-year growth.

International daily users grew 31% year-on-year, and over 190 million Americans now visit Reddit weekly.

The company is also testing a streamlined onboarding flow to improve early engagement. Huffman explained, “We want them to see in their first session that Reddit is amazing and has content for them. So our goal is to connect users with relevant content very quickly.”

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