From Text to Talk
For years, Reddit’s identity has been rooted in text. It’s a place for deep-diving into niche communities, engaging in long comment threads, and, well, a lot of reading. Now, the platform is testing whether users want to experience those same conversations
without having to read walls of text. In a limited experiment rolling out across its web, iOS, and Android apps, Reddit is converting some posts into audio and video formats. Users encountering an eligible post will see a toggle to switch between “Read” and “Play.” Selecting “Play” launches a vertical, TikTok-style video where AI-generated voices narrate the original post and selected top comments, with the text often highlighted on-screen as it's spoken.
The AI Behind the Voice
This new feature is powered by artificial intelligence that generates synthetic voices to bring the written conversations to life. Reddit is using multi-voice text-to-speech technology to create a more dynamic listening experience, assigning different voices to the original poster and various commenters. To maintain transparency, each video includes a clear label stating it is a “Real conversation voiced by AI.” For now, the experiment is limited to a handful of English-language posts in select communities, which Reddit says it is manually choosing. This allows the company to test which types of discussions—like a years-old thread asking for board game recommendations—translate best into this new format. The original text threads remain completely unchanged and accessible.
Chasing the Video Wave
This move isn't happening in a vacuum. For years, a cottage industry of creators has flourished on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram by simply narrating interesting Reddit posts. These videos, often set against unrelated gameplay footage, garner millions of views and significant ad revenue—none of which flows back to Reddit or its users. Reddit CEO Steve Huffman acknowledged this trend during a recent earnings call, noting that people are already consuming Reddit content in podcast-style formats off-platform. This experiment is a direct attempt to bring that engagement back into Reddit’s own ecosystem, effectively cutting out the middleman and capturing a slice of the lucrative video market. It follows other recent video-centric updates, like the introduction of video comments.
A New Experience for Redditors
The introduction of audio and video formats could fundamentally change how people interact with Reddit. It pivots the platform from an active, lean-in experience of reading and typing to a more passive, lean-back one of listening and watching. This could make Reddit content more accessible for users who want to catch up on threads while commuting, exercising, or cooking. However, the test also raises questions. Reddit has not yet announced a revenue-sharing model for users whose popular posts are turned into this new content format. The success of this feature will depend on whether the AI narration feels authentic to the platform's culture and whether it enhances the user experience without alienating the core community that built Reddit's vast archive of content in the first place.
