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Examining the Prevalence and Dynamics of AI-Generated Media in Art Subreddits

Hana Matatov, Marianne Aubin Le Quéré, Ofra Amir, Mor Naaman

TL;DR

This study quantifies the prevalence and dynamics of AI-generated media in art subreddits, contrasting AI-disallowed and AI-neutral communities. It leverages a large, LLM-labeled dataset to distinguish posts and comments that imply AI use from those that do not, and it analyzes temporal trends, newcomer participation, and sentiment. Key findings show AI-related posts remain rare (<0.5%), newcomers often engage via AI-generated content, and reactions to AI-suspected content become more negative over time, with differences shaped by community rules. The work highlights evolving norms around AIGC in creative online spaces and informs moderation and community-design considerations for the future.

Abstract

Broadly accessible generative AI models like Dall-E have made it possible for anyone to create compelling visual art. In online communities, the introduction of AI-generated content (AIGC) may impact social dynamics, for example causing changes in who is posting content, or shifting the norms or the discussions around the posted content if posts are suspected of being generated by AI. We take steps towards examining the potential impact of AIGC on art-related communities on Reddit. We distinguish between communities that disallow AI content and those without such a direct policy. We look at image-based posts in these communities where the author transparently shares that the image was created by AI, and at comments in these communities that suspect or accuse authors of using generative AI. We find that AI posts (and accusations) have played a surprisingly small part in these communities through the end of 2023, accounting for fewer than 0.5% of the image-based posts. However, even as the absolute number of author-labeled AI posts dwindles over time, accusations of AI use remain more persistent. We show that AI content is more readily used by newcomers and may help increase participation if it aligns with community rules. However, the tone of comments suspecting AI use by others has become more negative over time, especially in communities that do not have explicit rules about AI. Overall, the results show the changing norms and interactions around AIGC in online communities designated for creativity.

Examining the Prevalence and Dynamics of AI-Generated Media in Art Subreddits

TL;DR

This study quantifies the prevalence and dynamics of AI-generated media in art subreddits, contrasting AI-disallowed and AI-neutral communities. It leverages a large, LLM-labeled dataset to distinguish posts and comments that imply AI use from those that do not, and it analyzes temporal trends, newcomer participation, and sentiment. Key findings show AI-related posts remain rare (<0.5%), newcomers often engage via AI-generated content, and reactions to AI-suspected content become more negative over time, with differences shaped by community rules. The work highlights evolving norms around AIGC in creative online spaces and informs moderation and community-design considerations for the future.

Abstract

Broadly accessible generative AI models like Dall-E have made it possible for anyone to create compelling visual art. In online communities, the introduction of AI-generated content (AIGC) may impact social dynamics, for example causing changes in who is posting content, or shifting the norms or the discussions around the posted content if posts are suspected of being generated by AI. We take steps towards examining the potential impact of AIGC on art-related communities on Reddit. We distinguish between communities that disallow AI content and those without such a direct policy. We look at image-based posts in these communities where the author transparently shares that the image was created by AI, and at comments in these communities that suspect or accuse authors of using generative AI. We find that AI posts (and accusations) have played a surprisingly small part in these communities through the end of 2023, accounting for fewer than 0.5% of the image-based posts. However, even as the absolute number of author-labeled AI posts dwindles over time, accusations of AI use remain more persistent. We show that AI content is more readily used by newcomers and may help increase participation if it aligns with community rules. However, the tone of comments suspecting AI use by others has become more negative over time, especially in communities that do not have explicit rules about AI. Overall, the results show the changing norms and interactions around AIGC in online communities designated for creativity.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 20 sections, 3 figures, 1 table.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Background
  3. Online Communities
  4. AI-Generated Images
  5. AI-generated Art and Online Communities
  6. Dataset
  7. Classification of the Dataset Using LLMs
  8. Categorization of the Communities
  9. Analyses and Findings
  10. Rise of AI Posts and Comments
  11. Participation and Newcomers
  12. Feedback, Interactions and Sentiment
  13. Discussion
  14. List of Subreddits
  15. List of Keywords
  16. ...and 5 more sections

Figures (3)

  • Figure 1: The volume of posts over time in AI-disallowed communities (red) and AI-neutral communities (green). The x-axis of the figure represents time (month), and the y-axis represents the number of posts. Plots 1-2 (top two) show the total volume of all image-based posts ; plots 3-4 show Transparent AI posts, and plots (5-6) show the number of Suspected AI posts.
  • Figure 2: The cumulative distribution of posts across different upvote ratio values (x-axis), and the corresponding cumulative percentage of posts (y-axis) for different kinds of post (left vs right) and communities (top vs bottom).
  • Figure 3: The cumulative number of posts (y-axis) for time spanned between the publication of the first comment on a Suspected AI post and its first AI-claiming comment (x-axis).