Reddit and Digg Cofounders Plan Relaunch of 'Human-Centered' Digg With AI Innovations

'The early web was fun,' Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian posted Wednesday on X.com. 'It was weird. It was community-driven. It's time to rebuild that.

'Which is why Kevin Rose and I just bought back Digg.'

The amount of that purchase is 'undisclosed,' reports CNBC:

The deal is backed by venture capital firms True Ventures, where Rose is a partner, and Ohanian's Seven Seven Six.... The company said in a release that it aims to differentiate itself in the social media market by 'focusing on AI innovations designed to enhance the user experience and build a human-centered alternative....' Rose said in a post on X that he and Ohanian 'dreamed up features that weren't even possible with yesterday's tech.'

'We're bringing more transparency and community partnership,' according to Rose's post, 'unlike anything you've seen, plus AI that unlocks creativity without sanitizing the human element. The timing is finally right to reimagine what's possible.'

'I really disliked you for a long time,' Ohanian tells Rose in their joint announcement video. (To which a cheery Rose responds, 'Rightfully so.')

But in the video Ohanian also says that today 'Our perspective on the world has shifted a lot. You don't want to live in the past, but now we actually have the technology to make better, healthier community experiences.' ('Old Rivals, New Vision,' says a post on Digg's X.com account, urging readers to 'Sign up to get early access when invites go live.')

And Digg.com now just displays this teasing catchphrase. 'The front page of the internet, now with superpowers.' (At the top of the page there's also a link to watch Diggnation Live at SXSW.)

While valued at $160 million dollars in 2008, Digg's plummeting traffic led to its brand and web site being acquired in 2012 by tech incubator Betaworks for about $500,000, according to CNBC...

Read more of this story at Slashdot.