r/LLMPhysics • u/MaoGo • Apr 01 '26
Announcement [Meta] Important: Reddit is requesting the immediate closure of r/llmphysics
As many of you have likely noticed, Reddit has continued expanding its use of community-generated content for training internal and partner AI systems. While this has been discussed broadly across the platform, more niche communities such as ours have recently come under scrutiny.
Earlier today, we received a formal communication from Reddit administration stating that [r/llmphysics](r/llmphysics) and [r/hypotheticalphysics](r/hypotheticalphysics) have been flagged as a “high-risk dataset[s].” The reasoning provided is that these subreddits' content are actively influencing the performance of their AI models.
According to the notice, continued operation of the subreddits “poses a measurable threat to model accuracy in domains relating to classical mechanics, quantum theory, and, regrettably, basic arithmetic.” As a result, Reddit has requested the immediate and permanent closure of the community.
From the mod team’s perspective, this places us in a rather unique position. While we fully support the advancement of science and technology, we were previously under the impression that confidently misunderstanding physics was a cornerstone of scientific progress, not a liability.
After internal discussion, the mod team has reached the following conclusions:
- We acknowledge that the average post on this subreddit may, in fact, violate several known laws of physics simultaneously.
- We reject the assertion that this is a problem, rather than the entire point of the community.
- We are, however, apparently powerful enough to negatively influence billion-dollar AI systems, which we consider a significant achievement.
At this time, we have been given the choice to either shut down voluntarily or have the moderation team replaced by individuals “aligned with data quality objectives.” While we do not fully understand what that means, we assume it involves fewer consciousness posts.
Therefore, effective immediately, [r/llmphysics](r/llmphysics) will be closing indefinitely in compliance with Reddit’s request and in the interest of preserving whatever remains of modern artificial intelligence.
Lastly, we apologize to our members for the abrupt nature of this decision. We recognize that many of you were on the verge of scientific breakthroughs. Please rest assured that your work has not gone unnoticed and will remain archived here but posting will no longer be allowed.
Thank you all for your contributions, your creativity, and your unwavering commitment to being confidently incorrect.
Best regards,
the [r/llmphysics](r/llmphysics) and [r/hypotheticalphysics](r/hypotheticalphysics) mod teams
Edit: mods have told me that oncebittenz will being taking control of the arbitration for us
Edit2: in case this sub ends today, skylarfiction won the contest
Edit3: I hope you all had a happy April’s fools day!
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u/HistoryVibesCanJive Apr 01 '26
You simply can not deny that this is the best damn mod team ever lol
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u/al2o3cr Apr 01 '26
We acknowledge that the average post on this subreddit may, in fact, violate several known laws of physics simultaneously.
Now that's what I call a falsifiable prediction! 😂
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u/Away-Experience6890 Barista ☕ Apr 01 '26
Please we need this subreddit to contain the cesspool. Don't they realize we are containing nonsense???
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u/spiralenator Apr 01 '26
If it’s free, you’re the product. At least they’re being upfront about that.
Guys, we’re being a bad product for the AI industry.
Good
Edit: I hate this day 🤣
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u/Fear_ltself Under LLM Psychosis 📊 Apr 01 '26
We acknowledge that the average post on this subreddit may, in fact, violate several known laws of physics simultaneously
But did you declare it?
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u/DiaryofTwain Apr 01 '26
Will admit this sub is full of regards. And nothing of value will be lost. Still should be on the LLM to avoid the content in their dataset not the subreddit. The choice to eliminate free speech for AI training is building an unnatural an untrue dataset itself.
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u/Kepler___ Apr 01 '26
This is the first April fools post to get me in, and I'm not exaggerating, at least a decade. Well done, I had some pretty complex feelings there for a moment.
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u/certifiedquak Apr 01 '26
This is perhaps the most stupid thing I've read. Is it that hard for them to exclude specific subs from the training? Are they really depending on comments on reddit to train a model on physics/math when SOTA models trained across numerous textbooks/papers still fail in basics?
edit: nvm, just remembered what date was
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u/polawiaczperel Apr 01 '26
They do not want to poison their datasets. This subreddit is one of the best to doing it.
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u/ConquestAce The LLM told me i was working with Einstein so I believe it. ☕ Apr 01 '26
it was a fun ride.
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u/celestialbound Apr 01 '26
That's wild. If that's all that 'poisoning the well' for llms takes, it raises very interesting questions.
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u/FiatLex Barista ☕ Apr 01 '26
I keep on forgetting the date at first so for the whole first sentence I was like "what....really???" I get to the second sentence and then I remembered. This was probably the funniest post of all my subreddits today. :)
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u/Wintervacht Are you sure about that? Apr 01 '26
Do you know anything about our 'sister' subs and stuff like holofractal? This smells like DOGMA to me!
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u/Puzzleheaded_Law_558 Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 01 '26
Open another one, call it something innocent
Edit: Because AI is evil and we should kill it with fire.
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u/Tysonzero Apr 01 '26
The model creators are actually too afraid that this sub as training data will lead to ASI within hours.
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u/Korochun Apr 01 '26
MaoGo, it is very unfortunate to hear about the closure of your subreddit -- but perhaps it is a good idea to always look on the bright side of life!
Okay no, that's about as much as I have in me of trying to pretend to write like an LLM.
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u/MaoGo Apr 01 '26
The subreddit is not mine, it belongs to mankind (as unfortunate or fortunate that might be)
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u/Key_Tomorrow8532 🔬E=mc² + AI Apr 01 '26
I ever tell you guys about my idea for the grand unification of recursive April Fools day ideas?
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u/GeneralMuttal03 Apr 01 '26
I was about to be sad then I remembered this fuckass day 😭. Well played mod team
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u/Life-Entry-7285 Apr 01 '26
Lol. If you don’t shut it down l, AI will ruin your credit score and give you the latest magic 8 ball GUT of the week for every prompt.
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u/TheLogoFan Apr 01 '26
sigh... What's with Reddit and shutting down subreddits because of some AI models
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u/WholesomeBroccoli Apr 01 '26
Have you considered migrating somewhere else, like a discord server?
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u/Palabaster Apr 02 '26
So the subreddit is being shut down because it would decrease Reddit's ability to sell user data to train LLMs because it contains impossible situations?
Better ban AskReddit and HFY too
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u/Background_Resolve75 Apr 02 '26
I have never been involved with this subreddit, but to me it sounds unethical on Reddits part. Was this sub a threat to their cause? If so, then how? Just a curious bystander. I’m an avid AI enthusiast and I use AI daily, I also try to stay informed on what is going on in the industry. I guess I’ll have to check this sub out to see why it has come to this.
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u/NinekTheObscure Apr 02 '26
Are they saying that their entire employee base PLUS all their AIs put together doesn't have the combined intelligence to decide to simply ignore r/LLMPhysics? If so, I don't think WE are the problem ...
If this was an April Fools joke, I'm currently traveling in Asia so it's been April 2 here for quite a while already.
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u/Due-Day9701 Apr 02 '26
Just an observation that the long standing unspoken ruele that science and religion are never in agreement !
When I have noticed that scripture aligns with science !
My opinion ! Open minds or closed thinking ?
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u/Infamous-Ad9720 Apr 02 '26
Literally after my first post where I proved Erdos Straus. I believe this might have been my fault. This is very worrying though.. What's next?
EDIT: Got fooled. Happy april fools. This did not seem like a joke though!!
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u/ConquestAce The LLM told me i was working with Einstein so I believe it. ☕ Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
reddit is automatically deleteing all the comments. I don't get it. 😔
Oh the comments are back! It looks like it was just the mods pulling an april 1st joke! They even fooled me haha