Alexis Ohanian says building social networks is no longer cool

How the internet is changing

Ohanian told WIRED correspondent Lauren Goode that an improved group chat may be a better format for user-generated content. In his view, building social networking apps is now “uncool,” and much of the internet has been compromised.

Ohanian has a complicated relationship with Reddit. In 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, he left the company to make room on the board for a Black member and push Reddit to reform its moderation rules. At the time, the platform was known for hosting violent and harmful speech. Recently, Ohanian learned that a Reddit user had covered up a tattoo of the site’s logo. He once saw such a tattoo as a sign of the platform’s success, but says he now understands the user’s decision.

Ohanian now runs venture firm Seven Seven Six, which manages more than $1.3 billion. He has focused on sports, where, he says, real communities still exist amid a flood of low-quality AI-generated content and a manipulated internet.

Ohanian supports the “dead internet” theory, which holds that bots produce a significant share of online content and activity. The rise of large language models has accelerated the process, and AI agents already act faster than people. Ohanian believes familiar interfaces and user experiences could disappear: more and more internet services will be built for AI agents rather than people.

Benefits and risks for platforms

The rise of generative AI has benefited platforms such as Reddit. The company licensed its large archive of human conversations to Google, OpenAI and other organizations to train AI models. Ohanian notes that platform archives have become valuable material for large language models.

But AI also affects Reddit’s business. Last week, the company’s shares fell 29% after it warned that Google’s AI-powered search was reducing traffic to the platform. Ohanian is also concerned about the commercialization of conversations: he believes it is filling the internet with “nonsense.” The more valuable the internet becomes to businesses, the easier its content is to manipulate.

Reddit recently announced that it would require users to sign in to an account. The company said the move was intended to fight data collection by third-party services and support user engagement. Ohanian did not say whether he supports the decision, but believes it is necessary to verify that real people are behind online activity — without unduly intruding on their privacy.

Expectations for AI

Ohanian was one of Anthropic’s early investors, but his optimism about AI is tied above all to potential medical discoveries. He acknowledges that the technology can cause significant harm and calls for a responsible approach to its development and use. At the same time, he hopes AI will substantially improve many aspects of life.

Dataist’s take: Ohanian’s comments point to two consequences of AI’s growth: it increases the value of user data while putting greater pressure on the platforms where that data is generated. His hopes for medical applications sit alongside risks to trust in the internet and its business models.