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Pretty soon anyone can understand any hilarious or offensive comment made on Reddit anywhere.
Reddit is now letting users in 35 different countries translate posts into other languages using machine learning-powered AI. Eventually, that could extend to every language.
Reddit first introduced the AI-powered translation tool in May when it added a feature that allowed users to translate posts into the French language in France. Now, the company is expanding the feature to more than 35 countries including Brazil, Spain, Germany, Italy, the Philippines, and countries throughout Latin America, Reddit said in a blog post.
Users in those countries will now have access to a "translate" button at the top right of all Reddit apps, which will translate their entire feed, including comments, into different language options. Reddit says this function will allow users to seamlessly participate in conversations on the site in languages other than their native language.
"Redditors can translate posts and comments from a community's original language to their Reddit set language," the company said. "For example, someone in Spain who typically uses Reddit in Spanish can follow and contribute to French-language discussions."
Posts the AI has translated into different languages will be labeled with a banner that users can click to see the post in its original language. Reddit says it's also working on features that help people find translated content on the site through different search engines.
"As machine translation continues to roll out, people will see translated Reddit content in search results," the company said.
The announcement follows Reddit's decision to go public in February, which opened up details into the company's internal investment in artificial intelligence. An S-1 form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that month showed that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is the company's third-largest shareholder, with an 8.7% stake.
Reddit also listed data licensing and AI training as part of its income streams in the document.
"We believe our growing platform data will be a key element in the training of leading large language models ("LLMs") and serve as an additional monetization channel for Reddit," Reddit said in the document.
Reddit also unveiled a new AI-powered ads "inspiration library," which essentially serves as a catalog of the top-performing ads on the website curated by AI. The dashboard allows advertisers to "learn what works best on Reddit," the company said in an announcement post.
The dashboard lets users and advertisers search by industry, budget, ad type, and more, and offers AI-generated "best practices" for advertisements on Reddit, the company said.
Clicking into any specific ad will show the top three creative best practices used to create that content, which Reddit says advertisers can "then adapt to your next campaign."
