MUMBAI: Looks like the biggest search result on the internet right now is a search for balance. As artificial intelligence reshapes how people find information online, Reddit chief executive Steve Huffman has fired a fresh salvo at Google’s AI-powered Search, arguing that the technology is creating answers but not necessarily creating value for the wider web.
Speaking after Reddit reported its latest quarterly earnings, Huffman contrasted Google’s traditional “ten blue links” model with its newer AI Overviews, saying conventional Search helped publishers, retailers and online communities grow by directing users to their websites.
“Ten blue links created enormous value for the broader internet,” Huffman said. “From our perspective, AI Overviews haven’t yet shown the same kind of positive impact. Businesses, publishers and retailers are still looking for a genuine win-win.”
His remarks come as publishers continue to report weaker referral traffic following Google’s broader rollout of AI-generated summaries, which often answer user queries directly within Search without requiring users to click through to external websites.
In his shareholder letter, Huffman argued that Reddit is becoming increasingly valuable in an internet flooded with AI-generated material. Rather than polished machine-written summaries, he said users are seeking authentic conversations and first-hand experiences shared by real people.
“As AI fills the web with synthetic content, people are looking for real human perspectives,” Huffman wrote, adding that the internet’s biggest challenge is no longer finding information but deciding which information can be trusted.
The comments also arrive against the backdrop of evolving commercial relationships between Google and content publishers. According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, Reddit is evaluating whether to renew its reported USD 60 million content licensing agreement with Google. Other publishers, including Reuters, Politico, USA Today and The Economist, are also said to be reviewing similar arrangements.
Another sticking point is Google’s AI policy itself. Publishers currently cannot opt out of appearing in AI Overviews while remaining eligible for traditional Search listings, leaving many website owners with little choice but to participate if they want visibility in Google’s search ecosystem.
Investor concerns have also surfaced. Although Reddit exceeded Wall Street expectations on several financial metrics, its shares fell more than 20 per cent after the earnings announcement as investors focused on uncertainty surrounding search-driven traffic. Huffman described referral traffic from Search as “choppy”, reflecting the unpredictable impact of AI-powered search experiences.
The concerns extend well beyond Reddit. Publishers have increasingly warned that AI-generated answers could reduce visits to original websites by satisfying users’ questions before they ever click a link.
Supporting those fears, a study by the Pew Research Center last year found that AI Overviews reduced publisher click-through rates by nearly half compared with conventional Search results. Google has disputed those findings, arguing that the study relied on a limited methodology and does not accurately represent broader Search behaviour. The company maintains that Search still sends billions of visits to websites every day and says overall organic clicks have remained broadly stable year on year.
Meanwhile, infrastructure providers are beginning to respond. Cloudflare recently updated its default robots.txt settings, giving website owners greater control over AI crawlers and adding another layer to the growing debate over how AI companies access and monetise online content.
Google, for its part, continues to expand AI Overviews and has recently made links within the summaries more prominent, saying the changes improve the user experience while continuing to drive traffic to publishers.
As AI rewrites the rules of Search, the industry’s biggest question is no longer whether people will find answers faster, but whether the websites producing those answers can still afford to keep writing them.
