174% Increase in AI Content in Popular Writing Subreddits

We analyzed sample data from two distinct Writing-based subreddits and used our AI detector, Originality.AI, to examine post text within the subreddits to find out how much content was likely generated by humans or AI. 

Summary of Key Findings: 

1. Within the NoSleep subreddit, AI growth rose to 15.09% in 2023 and accounts for 41.39% so far into 2024. 
2. Within the Fantasy Subreddit AI content steadily decreased from 2020 to 2023 to 2.4%, but so far into 2024, it accounts for 10.9% of the dataset. 
3. Correlation between Word Count and AI Score in the fantasy subreddit shows that a higher percentage of AI-detected content ranges between 500 - 1,000 words for 2020-2021, while it ranges between 500 - 900 words for the years 2022 - 2023. The AI Score also has a larger range in the 2020 - 2021 dataset than it does in the 2022 - 2023 dataset.
4. Within the top-rated filters by week, month, year, and all-time in the NoSleep subreddit, the range for AI content is 12% with “All Time” having the minority of 30% AI and “Month” having the majority of 43% AI. 
5. Overall, the analysis of the subreddits shows a clear trend of increasing AI usage within the r/NoSleep subreddit and a possible increase in AI usage within the r/Fantasy subreddit. Showcasing a growing number of AI integration within the reddit writing communities. 

Study Method and Data:

1. We ran Originality.AI’s detector on text posts from the chosen subreddits that were at least 100 words long to be rated as human or AI-generated. 
2. We tracked the percentage growth of AI Content within both subreddits between the years 2020-2024.
3. We tracked the percentage of AI within the top-rated filters in the NoSleep Subreddit.
4. We analyzed the correlation between AI Score and Word Count in the Fantasy Subreddit. 

AI Content in Writing Subreddits

Using Originality.AI to examine the Subreddits content to determine the amount of AI usage in Writing Subreddits. Our first subreddit for this study is r/NoSleep, a scary story-based subreddit with 18 million users where we collected a range of sample posts from the years 2020-2024, as well as a sample of the top-rated posts by week, month, year, and all time. Our second subreddit is r/Fantasy, a subreddit with 3.6 million users who review various fantasy-based content where we collected a range of sample posts from the years 2020-2024. 

AI Content in NoSleep and Fantasy Subreddits 2020-2024

Using Originality.AI to examine the Writing Subreddits to find out the likely percentage of AI-generated content from the years 2020-2024. While examining the NoSleep AI percentage we note that 2020 has an AI Content percentage of 4.2% which is slightly higher than the 2021 dataset percentage of 2.7%. AI Content begins to steadily incline from 2021 onwards with a 6%  increase in 2022 and a 7% increase in 2023. 

Thus far into 2024, AI-detected content accounts for 41.39% of the dataset. Within the Fantasy subreddit the range of AI-detected content is significantly less than the previous subreddits. We also see a decrease in AI-detected content with 3.6% in 2020, 2.7% in 2021, 2.4% in 2022, and a drop to 1.1% in 2023, our lowest score within this subreddit. Thus far into 2024, AI-detected content accounts for 10.9% of the total dataset. 

Although we have a small amount of data in 2024, the large spike in AI content is something to take into account - are we seeing more AI generated content in 2024?

Correlation between Word Count and AI Score in Fantasy Subreddit 2020-2023

While examining the correlation between AI Score and Word Count for the years 2020-2024 in the Fantasy subreddit we notice the following. Within the years 2020-2021, posts with an AI Score of 10% or less are usually less than 500 words. Posts during this time with a higher AI Score are mostly between 500 and 1,000 words. Within the years 2022-2023 posts with an AI score of 10% or less are once again usually less than 500 words. Posts during this timeframe with an AI Score higher than 40% are usually between 500-800 words and very few posts within this year have an AI Score higher than 50%. 

Percentage of AI Content in “Top” Filtered NoSleep Subreddits (Week, Month, Year, All)

While examining the percentage of AI Content in Top Rated posts in the NoSleep subreddit with an AI Score of 50% or higher we notice the following. The range of percentage is 12% with All Time top-rated posts having the least amount with 30% of the dataset. When filtering by top-rated posts of the year it rises to 38% of the dataset. When filtering by top-rated posts of the month the AI Content percentage peaks with 43% of the dataset having AI Content and when filtering by top-rated posts of the week it slightly declines to 42% of the dataset. 

In conclusion, our analysis reveals an increase in AI-generated content in r/Nosleep. In contrast r/Fantasy has been showing a gradual decrease. While the AI Content in 2024 is high within both subreddits, it could even out throughout the year or grow even more so no overall deduction can be said on this current year. The correlation between the AI Score and Word Count in r/Fantasy shows some distinct patterns. In addition, the analysis of top-rated posts in r/NoSleep show a relatively consistent percentage of AI content throughout the varying filters.