"There Has To Be a Lot That We're Missing": Moderating AI-Generated Content on Reddit

Abstract: Generative AI has begun to alter how we work, learn, communicate, and participate in online communities. How might our online communities be changed by generative AI? To start addressing this question, we focused on online community moderators' experiences with AI-generated content (AIGC). We performed fifteen in-depth, semi-structured interviews with moderators of Reddit communities that restrict the use of AIGC. Our study finds that rules about AIGC are motivated by concerns about content quality, social dynamics, and governance challenges. Moderators fear that, without such rules, AIGC threatens to reduce their communities' utility and social value. We find that, despite the absence of foolproof tools for detecting AIGC, moderators were able to somewhat limit the disruption caused by this new phenomenon by working with their communities to clarify norms. However, moderators found enforcing AIGC restrictions challenging, and had to rely on time-intensive and inaccurate detection heuristics in their efforts. Our results highlight the importance of supporting community autonomy and self-determination in the face of this sudden technological change, and suggest potential design solutions that may help.