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OpenAI has reached a deal<\/a> with Reddit to use the social news site\u2019s data for training AI models.<\/p>\n In a blog post<\/a> on OpenAI\u2019s press relations site, the company said that the Reddit partnership will provide it access to \u201creal-time, structured and unique content\u201d \u2014 e.g. posts and replies \u2014 from Reddit, allowing its tools and models to \u201cbetter understand and showcase\u201d that content. Reddit content will be incorporated into ChatGPT<\/a>, OpenAI\u2019s popular conversational AI, and the companies will work together to bring unspecified new \u201cAI-powered features\u201d to both Reddit users and moderators.<\/p>\n OpenAI will also become a Reddit advertising partner.<\/p>\n \u201cReddit will be building on OpenAI\u2019s platform of AI models to bring its powerful vision to life,\u201d OpenAI wrote in the post. \u201cUsing LLMs, ML, and AI allow Reddit to improve the user experience for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n OpenAI has several similar licensing deals with content providers ranging from stock media libraries to news publishers. But the unusual angle to this one is that Sam Altman, OpenAI\u2019s CEO, has an\u00a08.7% stake in Reddit<\/a>, making him the third-largest shareholder, and was once a member of the company\u2019s board of directors.<\/p>\n In an attempt to discourage scrutiny, OpenAI says in its press release that, while Altman remains a Reddit shareholder, the partnership \u201cwas led by OpenAI\u2019s COO [Brad Lightcap]\u201d and \u201capproved by [OpenAI\u2019s] independent board of directors.\u201d (I\u2019ll note here that Altman is a member of OpenAI\u2019s board; he recused himself for this decision, however, an OpenAI spokesperson tells TechCrunch.)<\/p>\n Reddit has made data licensing agreements an increasingly central part of its growth strategy as it navigates the market as a public company. <\/p>\n In its IPO prospectus,\u00a0Reddit\u00a0revealed<\/a> that it has contractual agreements to\u00a0license\u00a0its\u00a0data\u00a0to customers including Google<\/a> worth a combined over $200 million. And, in its first earnings report as a public company, Reddit reported a 450% year-over-year increase in non-ad revenue, attributable mainly to those agreements.<\/p>\n Reddit stock was up 11% in extended trading following the announcement of the OpenAI deal. <\/p>\n \u201cThe paradox I see is that, as more content on the internet is written by machines, there\u2019s an increasing premium on content that comes from real people,\u201d Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said during the company\u2019s earnings call in March. \u201cAnd we have nearly two decades of authentic conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n Reddit\u2019s platform \u2014 which has over 1 billion posts and more than 16 billion comments, figures that grow every day thanks to its hundreds of millions of active users \u2014 is a gold mine for generative AI companies, whose models learn from examples of content, like text and images, to generate new, similar content.<\/p>\n But the company could face pushback from users concerned about how it\u2019s monetizing their data. <\/p>\n It\u2019s instructive to look at Stack Overflow, the Q&A forum for software developers, which recently inked an agreement with OpenAI to supply data for the latter\u2019s model training. In protest, some users deleted their top-rated answers to questions on the community. But Stack Overflow restored the deleted posts and banned those users, claiming that they weren\u2019t in compliance with its terms of service. <\/p>\n Reddit has already voiced its displeasure with one attempt to afford Reddit users greater control over their own data. <\/p>\n Vana<\/a>, a startup built on the blockchain, is attempting to launch a data \u201cDAO\u201d (Digital Autonomous Organization) to let Reddit users pool their data and let them decide together how that combined data\u2019s used (or sold). Reddit banned Vana\u2019s subreddit dedicated to discussion about the DAO, in a statement to TechCrunch, and accused the company of \u201cexploiting\u201d its data export controls.<\/p>\n We\u2019re launching an AI newsletter! Sign up\u00a0<\/em>here<\/a><\/em>\u00a0to start receiving it in your inboxes on June 5.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n