On the LLMternet, nobody cares you’re a plant

Jerry is an insurance comparison company based in Palo Alto, California. The company, which has “truth seeking” as its first brand value, is currently hiring for a copywriter. Here’s the job description:

Redditors can smell a corporate ad from a mile away and will downvote low-effort marketing into oblivion. But when someone breaks down how car insurance premiums are actually calculated, or writes a step-by-step guide on negotiating a used car purchase, r/personalfinance and r/whatcarshouldibuy pay attention.We need a Reddit Copywriter who lives and breathes textual storytelling. You won’t be writing marketing copy—you’ll be writing high-value, educational, human text posts that turn complex financial and automotive topics into top-voted Reddit threads. You know how to capture sub-culture tone, write hooky titles, and turn technical jargon into clear, engageable prose.

Redditors can smell a corporate ad from a mile away and will downvote low-effort marketing into oblivion. But when someone breaks down how car insurance premiums are actually calculated, or writes a step-by-step guide on negotiating a used car purchase, r/personalfinance and r/whatcarshouldibuy pay attention.

We need a Reddit Copywriter who lives and breathes textual storytelling. You won’t be writing marketing copy—you’ll be writing high-value, educational, human text posts that turn complex financial and automotive topics into top-voted Reddit threads. You know how to capture sub-culture tone, write hooky titles, and turn technical jargon into clear, engageable prose.

The list of qualities the ideal applicant will “own” include a “[m]astery of Reddit voice” and the ability to:

Write comprehensive, search-optimized Reddit copy designed to index well on Google search and serve as cited reference material for AI models.

Write comprehensive, search-optimized Reddit copy designed to index well on Google search and serve as cited reference material for AI models.

We wrote earlier this year about the challenges facing Reddit — at its best, a decent platform for esoteric discussion — as the remorseless logic of capitalism enshittifies its content, corrupts its communities and feasts on the goo inside.

As home to an immense corpus of ranked written language, Reddit is a popular resource for LLMs. As a question-and-answer-friendly space, it’s a popular resource for people seeking product recommendations. And as both of those things, it’s a great place for astroturf marketing, the kind of thing being described in that Jerry job ad.

As we wrote back in April:

The proliferation of generated search summaries means that for users who — quite reasonably — just want to know what’s a good, inexpensive [kettle/time of year to visit Canada/haircare routine] in this crazy world can now get that information from Reddit without even the small step of actually going on Reddit.

The proliferation of generated search summaries means that for users who — quite reasonably — just want to know what’s a good, inexpensive [kettle/time of year to visit Canada/haircare routine] in this crazy world can now get that information from Reddit without even the small step of actually going on Reddit.

We should note that this isn’t new. Marketers have probably been manipulating Reddit since Reddit first became Reddit, and shilling has probably been around since crowds became crowds.

But LLM dynamics mean it’s probably going to get a lot worse. Here’s the précis of a UBS note published on Monday:

Generative AI is emerging as a new gateway for product discovery, potentially influencing where consumers shop before they visit a retailer’s website, open an app, or enter a store. We conducted [a] study to assess which retailers AI platforms recommend across common shopping occasions and what those recommendations reveal about competitive positioning, brand authority, and digital discoverability.

Generative AI is emerging as a new gateway for product discovery, potentially influencing where consumers shop before they visit a retailer’s website, open an app, or enter a store. We conducted [a] study to assess which retailers AI platforms recommend across common shopping occasions and what those recommendations reveal about competitive positioning, brand authority, and digital discoverability.

Author Michael Lasser has run the numbers across the major LLMs for recommendations in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota. The winners are . . . incumbents:

AI models consistently gravitate toward scale, value, convenience, and brand familiarity.Across the grocery, general merchandise, warehouse club, sporting goods, and household essentials categories, the largest and most established retailers captured a disproportionate share of recommendations. Based on the citation tracker, Walmart had the highest number of both “Top Choice” mentions and “Total Mentions,” with Costco ranking second. This is a meaningful finding because it suggests the models are not simply generating random responses but are converging around a relatively small group of retailers that have established strong consumer awareness and clear value propositions.

AI models consistently gravitate toward scale, value, convenience, and brand familiarity.

Across the grocery, general merchandise, warehouse club, sporting goods, and household essentials categories, the largest and most established retailers captured a disproportionate share of recommendations. Based on the citation tracker, Walmart had the highest number of both “Top Choice” mentions and “Total Mentions,” with Costco ranking second. This is a meaningful finding because it suggests the models are not simply generating random responses but are converging around a relatively small group of retailers that have established strong consumer awareness and clear value propositions.

Walmart, Lasser found, appears to be the “default answer” for most questions about everyday consumption you can throw at an LLM — meaning America’s biggest retailer is poised to benefit if handing off your shopping decisions to an agent does end up becoming common practice. Costco and Aldi also scored highly on value.

Notably, these are all well-established brick-and-mortar retailers:

Predominantly online retailers surfaced far less frequently than many investors might expect. Despite the rapid growth of e-commerce and the increasing influence of digital shopping, the AI models overwhelmingly favored retailers with large physical footprints, established store networks, and broad consumer awareness. Amazon appeared less dominant than anticipated, and many online-only or predominantly online retailers were largely absent from the top recommendations. This suggests that AI systems currently place significant weight on retailers that combine price, convenience, assortment, and physical accessibility.

Predominantly online retailers surfaced far less frequently than many investors might expect. Despite the rapid growth of e-commerce and the increasing influence of digital shopping, the AI models overwhelmingly favored retailers with large physical footprints, established store networks, and broad consumer awareness. Amazon appeared less dominant than anticipated, and many online-only or predominantly online retailers were largely absent from the top recommendations. This suggests that AI systems currently place significant weight on retailers that combine price, convenience, assortment, and physical accessibility.

A common feature of AI search winners was “[f]requent third-party references validating their strengths”. As Lasser notes:

The implication is that recommendation share could become a new indicator of competitive advantage. Retailers that are consistently surfaced by AI may receive incremental consideration from consumers, while retailers that fail to appear could face a subtle but meaningful headwind over time.Finally, one of the most notable aspects of the analysis is that the models generally reinforced existing industry leadership rather than producing random or unpredictable outcomes . . . This suggests that generative AI is currently acting more as an amplifier of existing competitive advantages than as a disruptor of them . . . The companies that succeed may not necessarily be those with the largest digital businesses, but rather those that become the default answer when consumers ask AI where they should shop.

The implication is that recommendation share could become a new indicator of competitive advantage. Retailers that are consistently surfaced by AI may receive incremental consideration from consumers, while retailers that fail to appear could face a subtle but meaningful headwind over time.

Finally, one of the most notable aspects of the analysis is that the models generally reinforced existing industry leadership rather than producing random or unpredictable outcomes . . .

This suggests that generative AI is currently acting more as an amplifier of existing competitive advantages than as a disruptor of them . . .

The companies that succeed may not necessarily be those with the largest digital businesses, but rather those that become the default answer when consumers ask AI where they should shop.

All of which is a roundabout way of saying that manipulating neutral-seeming information sources is going to become even more important to advertisers. And right now Reddit is the neutral-seeming information source. If you think the well is already poisoned, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Further reading:
— Reddit may need to sell its soul for scale