The open web starts to close: Reddit goes logged-in only
AI is changing how people find information, and the open web feels it. Reddit's CEO Steve Huffman says the site will move to a logged-in experience. TechCrunch links the move to search traffic drying up as people ask AI instead.
On Reddit itself, users worry that posts will no longer be found through normal web search. That would also hurt AI tools that search the web for answers. Some people running local AI agents already say free web search options are failing.
In the courts, the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, is asking for a middle ground in big AI copyright cases. It wants AI training on copyrighted work to be protected, but not chatbots copying that work back to users. It warns that a black-and-white ruling could hurt the open web.
The web was built on open sharing, and AI was trained on it. If every site locks its doors to protect itself, regular people lose free access to knowledge too.
