Discord plans to introduce AI powered summaries and forum-like feature

Discord, the popular chat platform, is exploring AI-powered summaries and forum-style features to help users keep up with discussions and save helpful information, especially for members of large and long-standing communities.

In an interview with The Verge, Peter Sellis, Discord’s Senior Vice President of Product, said:

He further mentioned that Discord, which is mainly used for real-time communication by the gaming community, often finds it difficult to function as a repository of shared knowledge. Unlike traditional forums, Discord channels and threads are difficult to search, catch up with, or track, especially on busy servers.

One solution being explored is integrating large language models (LLMs) to summarize lengthy and unstructured conversations. This would help users quickly grasp the gist of a conversation without scrolling through countless messages in threads.

Discord is also considering forum-like structures to offer more organized, searchable content. This will be helpful for communities where people rely on shared tips, strategies, and updates.

While these features are still in the exploratory phase, the team is taking a cautious approach to avoid overburdening moderators or admins, who are essential in maintaining healthy communities.

Well, it is a great initiative, but let us not forget it comes with a broader challenge: balancing the needs of massive public servers with the 90% of activity in small, intimate groups.

Sellis mentioned successful integrations like Midjourney’s AI image generation and the new Wordle app, which show that Discord will continue to evolve toward becoming more than a chat app, perhaps a social gaming and creative collaboration platform.

Are AI summaries and forum features the future of Discord? Only time will tell! Share your thoughts in the comments section below.