Reddit · AI product · Mid · 45 to 60 minutes

How should Reddit use AI in search?

Reddit is a large online platform where people join communities and discuss topics through posts and comment threads. Answer this product management case and get it graded line by line against a weighted rubric.

Product sense
AI product judgment
Prioritization
Experiment design
Trust and safety

The situation

It is early 2025, and you are a PM in Reddit's Search and Discovery team. Leadership has asked for a recommendation on whether Reddit should add an AI-assisted layer to search for logged-in users, and if so, how to do it without hurting what people already love. Two metrics are worrying the team: about 82% of Reddit traffic comes from lurkers, and about 40% of first-time users leave after one session. Search traffic is valuable because people trust Reddit's real conversations, but newcomers often land in long, messy threads and struggle to find the useful parts quickly. Meanwhile, TikTok and YouTube are becoming search tools for younger users, and large AI companies are using Reddit's data to power their own answer experiences. Leadership wants a plan for the next planning cycle because growth, retention, and search engagement matter more than ever. The tension is clear: help new users get value faster, but do not turn Reddit into a generic answer engine or create avoidable trust and safety problems.

What to produce

Write a 1 to 2 page product strategy memo.

Your answer must

Define the user problem clearly and identify a primary target segment, such as first-time users, search-driven visitors, lurkers, or active contributors.
Recommend a product direction for AI in Reddit search and discovery, including where in the user journey it should appear and where it should not appear.
Explain the key trade-offs and name at least two plausible options you would say no to for now, with reasons.
Describe how the experience would build trust and handle risk, including sourcing, transparency, user control, and sensitive or low-consensus topics.
Propose success metrics, guardrail metrics, and a staged experiment or rollout plan.

Constraints

Keep the scope to Reddit search and discovery on mobile app and desktop web, not a full redesign of Reddit.
Your proposal must preserve access to the original community discussions and comments as the core product experience.
Assume you need an approach that can be launched gradually and quality tested before broad rollout.

Format

Use short headings and bullets for problem, users, recommendation, risks, and metrics.

How Reddit actually played it

Covers the launch of Reddit Answers, which summarizes community discussions, and the risk of tampering with what makes Reddit work. Discusses helping new users and why saying no to some options was wise.

Add AI around a trusted core instead of replacing it
Solve a specific onboarding problem for newcomers
Choosing what not to build protects the product's character

Built from Reddit Used AI to Do What No One Thought It Could: Get Better by Sid Arora (JAPM).