Reddit is making its AI-powered search feature available to millions more people around the world. The company announced that it’s adding five new languages to Reddit Answers, which is the name of their smart search tool. The new languages are French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.
This means people in countries like Brazil, France, Germany, Spain, Mexico, and Italy can now use the AI search in their own language. If you’ve set one of these languages as your default on Reddit, the AI will understand your questions and answer you back in that same language. It’s all about making Reddit easier to use for people who don’t speak English as their first language.
Reddit Answers is different from the regular search you’re probably used to. Instead of just typing keywords and hoping for the best, you can actually have a conversation with the AI. You ask it a question like you’re talking to a friend, and it gives you an answer based on real discussions that Reddit users have had. The system pulls from thousands of posts and comments to give you something useful.
The feature uses a Google AI model to work its magic. When you type in a question, the AI reads what you’re asking, figures out what you really want to know, and then searches through Reddit’s massive collection of conversations to find the best answers. It doesn’t just give you one response either. The AI shows you different opinions from different communities, complete with links back to the original posts so you can read more if you want.
Reddit first introduced this AI-powered search last year, but it was only available in English. Now that they’re expanding to more languages, the company is clearly trying to reach a bigger audience. CEO Steve Huffman shared some numbers during a call with investors back in August. He said that regular Reddit searches get more than 70 million people using it every week. The newer Reddit Answers feature has about 6 million users. That’s a big difference, but 6 million is still a lot of people trying out the new way of searching.
The timing of this language expansion makes sense when you think about how popular these question and answer style searches have become. Ever since ChatGPT added web search to its features, everyone wants to search the internet by just asking questions naturally. Google has been adding similar features to stay competitive. Other companies like Brave and startups like Perplexity are also jumping into this space. Reddit is just following the trend, but they have one big advantage. All those years of people talking about everything under the sun on Reddit give them a treasure trove of real conversations to pull from.
For Spanish speakers in Mexico and Spain, or Portuguese speakers in Brazil, this opens up a whole new way to find information on Reddit. Before this update, if you wanted to use the AI search, you had to ask your questions in English even if that wasn’t comfortable for you. Now you can search in your native language and get results that make sense to you.
The same goes for French, German, and Italian users. People in France can now ask about the best restaurants in Paris in French. Germans can search for advice about winter sports gear in German. Italians can look for travel tips in Italian. The AI understands the language and can find relevant discussions from Reddit’s international communities and English language communities too, giving you a fuller picture.
One thing that’s important to mention is that Reddit Answers works alongside the traditional search function. The company isn’t replacing the old way of searching. If you prefer to type in keywords and scroll through results yourself, you can still do that.
The way Reddit Answers works is pretty straightforward. When you search using the AI, it gives you a summary answer at the top. This summary is based on what Reddit users have said in various discussions. Below that summary, you’ll see citations and links to the actual posts where that information came from. This is really helpful because you can verify that the AI isn’t just making stuff up. You can click through and read the full conversations to get more context or see other perspectives.
Privacy seems to be something Reddit is thinking about with this feature. The AI processes your questions to understand what you’re looking for, but according to Reddit, it’s not storing your personal information or connecting your searches to your identity in ways that could be harmful. That said, whenever you’re using any AI tool, it’s good to be aware of what you’re sharing.
The expansion to these five languages is probably just the beginning. Reddit has been talking a lot about going global and reaching users in more countries. Adding more languages to the AI search is one way to do that. When people can use a platform in their own language, they’re more likely to stick around and engage with it. That’s good for Reddit’s business because more users means more opportunities to show ads and make money.
From a user perspective, having AI-powered search in multiple languages could change how people use Reddit. Instead of struggling through English posts when you’re looking for advice or information, you can now ask in your own language and get helpful answers. This is especially useful for topics where language matters, like legal questions, local recommendations, or cultural discussions.
Some people are excited about these AI features, while others are sceptical. There are Reddit users who think the company should focus on making the regular search better instead of adding AI on top of it. Reddit’s traditional search has been criticized for years for not working very well. But Reddit seems committed to the AI direction, probably because that’s where the tech industry is heading right now.
The fact that Reddit is using Google’s AI model is interesting too. Reddit and Google have a partnership where Google uses Reddit’s data to train its AI systems. So it makes sense that Reddit would use Google’s technology for its own AI features. It’s a two way relationship that benefits both companies.
For the millions of people who speak French, German, Spanish, Italian, or Portuguese, this update makes Reddit more accessible. You don’t have to be comfortable with English to get good search results anymore. You can explore communities, find answers to questions, and discover new information in a language that feels natural to you.
Looking ahead, Huffman has talked about plans to make the search experience even better. The company is hiring more engineers who specialize in search technology. They’re investing resources into making sure the AI can handle complex questions and give accurate answers. The goal is to make Reddit the go to place when people have questions that need real human experiences and opinions, not just corporate marketing answers.
As more people around the world start using Reddit Answers in their own languages, it will be interesting to see how the feature develops. Will it become the main way people search on Reddit? Will the company add even more languages? Will users trust AI generated summaries, or will they still prefer reading through posts themselves? These are questions that will get answered over time as the feature grows and evolves.
For now, if you speak any of these five languages and you’ve been curious about Reddit’s AI search, you can give it a try. Set your language preference in the app or on the website, and start asking questions. The AI is ready to help you find what you’re looking for, pulling from years of Reddit discussions to give you answers that come from real people with real experiences.
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