Alexis Ohanian says group chats may replace public social media posts

In short: Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian says the future of user-generated content may look more like group chats than public social media feeds.

What's going on

Alexis Ohanian, who cofounded Reddit, said he expects a “better version of the group chat” to become the next big place where people create and share content online. He made the comments while speaking with WIRED senior correspondent Lauren Goode at the WIRED World Fair 2026.

Ohanian argued that large parts of today’s internet feel “compromised,” meaning they are easier to manipulate and harder to trust. He pointed to the “Dead Internet Theory,” the idea that a lot of online posts and activity are made by bots (automated accounts that can post without a real person). He said new AI tools, including large language models (text generators that can write like a person), have made this problem worse.

He also suggested that the internet may increasingly be designed for “agents” instead of people. An AI agent is software that can take actions on its own, like searching, clicking, and posting, similar to a very fast assistant that never sleeps.

Ohanian said AI has made places like Reddit valuable because companies can license old human conversations to help train AI models. At the same time, he noted that Reddit has warned that Google’s AI search features are hurting the traffic Reddit used to get from search results. He also said there needs to be a way to prove you are human online “without being creepy.”

What to watch

If more conversation moves into private or semi-private group chats, it could make the public web quieter and harder to navigate, like going from a town square to lots of small living rooms. It could also increase pressure on platforms to verify real people while still protecting privacy.

Source: Wired