On Friday, Bloomberg reported that Reddit has signed a contract permitting an unnamed AI firm to coach its fashions on the positioning’s content material, in response to folks accustomed to the matter. The transfer comes because the social media platform nears the introduction of its preliminary public providing (IPO), which might occur as quickly as subsequent month.
Reddit initially revealed the deal, which is reported to be value $60 million a 12 months, earlier in 2024 to potential buyers of an anticipated IPO, Bloomberg mentioned. The Bloomberg supply speculates that the contract might function a mannequin for future agreements with different AI corporations.
After an period the place AI corporations utilized AI coaching information without expressly looking for any rightsholder permission, some tech corporations have extra lately begun getting into offers the place some content material used for coaching AI fashions just like GPT-4 (which runs the paid model of ChatGPT) comes beneath license. In December, for instance, OpenAI signed an agreement with German writer Axel Springer (writer of Politico and Enterprise Insider) for entry to its articles. Beforehand, OpenAI has struck offers with different organizations, together with the Associated Press. Reportedly, OpenAI can also be in licensing talks with CNN, Fox, and Time, amongst others.
In April 2023, Reddit founder and CEO Steve Huffman told The New York Times that it deliberate to cost AI corporations for entry to its virtually twenty years’ value of human-generated content material.
If the reported $60 million/12 months deal goes by means of, it is fairly potential that in case you’ve ever posted on Reddit, a few of that materials could also be used to coach the subsequent technology of AI fashions that create textual content, nonetheless photos, and video. Even with out the deal, experts have discovered previously that Reddit has been a key supply of coaching information for giant language fashions and AI picture mills.
Whereas we do not know if OpenAI is the corporate that signed the cope with Reddit, Bloomberg speculates that Reddit’s potential to faucet into AI hype for added income might enhance the worth of its IPO, which is perhaps value $5 billion. Regardless of drama final 12 months, Bloomberg states that Reddit pulled in additional than $800 million in income in 2023, rising about 20 p.c over its 2022 numbers.
Advance Publications, which owns Ars Technica mum or dad Condé Nast, is the biggest shareholder of Reddit.
