Reddit CEO Says Chatbots Are Not a Traffic Driver

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini aren’t major traffic drivers, with most users coming from Google and direct visits.
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Reddit CEO Says Chatbots Are Not a Traffic Driver
Why Reddit CEO Says Chatbots Are Not a Traffic Driver During Reddit’s Q3 2025 earnings call, CEO Steve Huffman clarified that AI chatbots aren’t a significant source of traffic for the platform. Despite partnerships with OpenAI and Google , Huffman noted that Reddit still gets most of its traffic from Google Search and direct visits , not chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini. He emphasized that while AI companies have learned from Reddit’s data, these tools haven’t yet become meaningful referral sources. Image Credits:Zach Gibson / Stringer / Getty Images How Does Reddit Benefit From AI Partnerships? Even though chatbots are not a traffic driver , Reddit has monetized its data through licensing deals with major AI firms. In 2024, Reddit restricted access to its data for commercial use and began charging for it — a move that led to partnerships with OpenAI and Google , while sparking legal disputes with others like Anthropic and Perplexity . These agreements allow AI models to train on Reddit’s uniq…