Reddit’s Old Rival Digg Reveals First Look, AI Integration Plan to Early Users

Internet news-sharing platform Digg on Thursday rolled out invites to users who signed up first to become a part of ‘Groundbreakers’, a small group of early supporters who will help shape the platform’s development. The company also offered a glimpse into how it will use AI in the platform.

The users were asked to pay an upfront fee of $5 to enter the community on Circle. Digg mentioned that the fee was to keep away bots and ensure only humans join the community. The fee will be donated as proceeds to a nonprofit chosen by the community.

On March 5, Kevin Rose, co-founder of Digg, and Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit—two rivals from the past—teamed up to announce Digg’s revival with an option to sign up for invite-based early access to the platform.

Digg was once a popular social news platform like Reddit and served as one of its main competitors. However, after being sold off, the company eventually shut down its services in 2018.

With the early access community, users will get access to updates, mockups and experimental features. They will also get a chance to share ideas and feedback, reserve a username, and receive a badge to showcase their status as an early tester.

AIM joined the community and got access to a mockup that shows how the platform would potentially appear, specifically displaying the corner of a screen. Notably, this does not indicate its final look.

The company wrote in an update within the community, “This is going to be a lot of fun and a little bit chaotic. But if we’re going to rethink social for this new age, we’re going to have to do it with a community”.

In a voice note shared in the community, Rose mentioned that the platform will prioritise users’ contributions as the key metric, over the number of followers, to determine visibility or popularity of the user.

He explained that the homepage of the platform will feature the top comment, top users, and posts to draw users’ attention to what is popular.

Rose highlighted that they aim to use AI under the banner ‘Digg Intelligence’, applying it in areas where it can add value. For instance, to get a summary of a story. He emphasised that AI should be a helpful partner in this journey and should serve as a meaningful addition to the communities within the platform.