I've spent enough time dabbling with AI to conclude that anyone with enough money, can generate enough AI content to drive product forward.
Reddit is now a product, if people are leaving Reddit in droves through the standpoint of a CEO I would think of all kinds of ways to keep the product interesting which means putting on an AI puppet show.
If you go shopping on amazon, often shitty products are reviewed positively by bots to try and drive sales.
Reddit is no different. The money is there, the technology is there, and above it all the greed is there.
It's no longer paranoia, its more than plausible.