Is Reddit Being Overrun by AI? r/MaliciousCompliance Debates the Future of Storytelling
If you’ve spent any time scrolling through Reddit lately—especially subs dedicated to entertaining stories like r/MaliciousCompliance—you might have felt a shiver of déjà vu. The stories all start to sound the same. The punchlines feel a little too polished. And every so often, someone pipes up to say: “That never happened.” But now, there’s a new villain in town: artificial intelligence, and it’s allegedly flooding the front page with “fake crap.”
Recently, u/hollyroo voiced what many have been thinking: “So tired of the AI and fake crap on here it’s ruining this subreddit.” Their solution? Check the age of the original poster (OP). If the account is only a few days old, downvote and move on. But is it really that simple—or are we all living in a digital Truman Show, surrounded by bots smarter (or at least sneakier) than we think?
Let’s dive into the discussion and see just how deep this AI rabbit hole goes.
The Age-Old Debate: New Accounts, New Problems
On the surface, u/hollyroo’s suggestion sounds reasonable. New account? Probably a bot or a karma farmer spinning AI-generated tales. Downvote and let the real stories rise! But as the r/MaliciousCompliance community quickly pointed out, it’s not quite so easy.
As u/Pandoratastic noted, “a young age isn’t guaranteed proof.” Some people lurk for years before posting—maybe they only make an account when they finally have a tale to tell (or a boss to roast). Others use throwaway accounts for privacy, especially when sharing drama that could get them fired or, worse, outed to their nosy aunt.
And the bots? They’re getting smarter. Bot farms now buy old accounts or hijack aged, dormant ones. “I saw one where the account was six or seven years old, but hadn’t posted for five years before a bunch of obviously-AI posts over four days,” added u/JumpingSpider97. So much for account age as a “dead giveaway.”
The AI Anxieties: Idiotification, Inbreeding, and the Death of Originality
Of course, the conversation quickly spiraled into a referendum on AI itself. “To my very core, I despise every aspect of AI. From the idiotification of humanity, to the destruction of the environment. It is a plague,” declared u/RavenclawRanger85, capturing a sentiment that resonated with many. Others, like u/ShookMyHeadAndSmiled, called AI-generated posts a “scourge,” lamenting the decline of their favorite subs.
But it’s not just the fakes that frustrate folks. There’s also the creeping sense of sameness. As u/LethalInjectionRD put it, “Even if I agreed with you, none of these AI written stories are remotely entertaining. They’re all basically the exact same 4-5 story concepts. So it’s just boring and rehashed crap.”
An even darker vision comes from u/axismundi00: “You encourage AI to train upon its own output and come up with increasingly worse content each time (literal AI inbreeding). And in a few year’s time you’ll be like ‘there’s nothing good left on the internet, where did all the good stuff go?’”
Throwaways, Privacy, and the Human Cost
But not everyone blames new accounts or AI for the sub’s woes. As u/Pure-Meat9498 and u/Just_Another_A-hole pointed out, privacy concerns make throwaways essential for many. After all, who wants their boss or ex recognizing their story? The “new account = bot” logic risks alienating genuine contributors. As u/nyrB2 wisely warns, it’s a “good rule of thumb, but I’d be wary of calling it a ‘dead giveaway’ because it implies anybody that’s new to Reddit is a phony.”
Meanwhile, others are already nostalgic for the days before AI. “Even before AI, the vast majority of comments of this subreddit have always been some variation of ‘that never happened,’” observed u/HumbleConfection5514. Maybe the bot paranoia is just the latest chapter in Reddit’s long history of skepticism.
Solutions, Satire, and Shouting into the Void
So, what’s to be done? Some users propose technical fixes: “Reddit could put the age of the poster ... right next to the profile name,” suggested u/Ok-Crow-4948. Others want better reporting tools, more active moderators, or even a human verification system—but as u/Ok-Grape2063 points out, “nothing will stop a human copy-pasting an AI-generated story and posting it.”
And then there’s the humor. “In before this is an AI complaining about AI...” quipped u/GreenManStrolling. OP, undeterred, replied with a well-placed “lol 😂.” If you can’t beat the bots, at least laugh at the absurdity.
A Call for Transparency (and Maybe Just a Little Chill)
Some commenters, like u/Informal_Ad_5321, advocate for a middle ground: “I create AI generated images and stories, usually just for the fun of it. But I make it a policy to only post on places and platforms that allow such content, and I always mark my content as AI generated.” Maybe it’s not about purging all AI, but about giving readers the choice to know what they’re reading.
And let’s not forget the folks who just want to be entertained, regardless of source. “I’m here for entertainment. I don’t give a damn if it happened in real life, someone has a really good imagination or a computer program wrote it,” shrugged u/buckeyekaptn. To which others retorted: sure, but is it too much to ask for something original?
The Bottom Line: Human, Bot, or Both?
At the end of the day, the battle for Reddit’s soul isn’t just about bots or throwaways or even AI inbreeding. It’s about authenticity, creativity, and the communities we build together—one upvote (or downvote) at a time. Whether you’re a diehard skeptic, a privacy-conscious lurker, or just here for a good story, one thing is clear: the line between human and machine is getting blurrier every day.
So, what do you think? Should Reddit crack down on AI content? Is account age a fair test—or just another internet witch hunt? Or do you, like some, just want to be entertained, no matter who (or what) is behind the keyboard? Sound off in the comments—and don’t forget to check your own account age before you do. (Just in case.)
Original Reddit Post: Anyone else?